


Scorbus AU "Your Name"

by strange_nut_pirate



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling, 君の名は。| Kimi no Na wa. | Your Name.
Genre: Dreaming, M/M, Makoto Shinkai, Soulmates, You don’t have to watch the movie/read the manga to read this fic, Your Name AU, body swapping, but there are spoilers to Your Name in this, memory fading
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2020-09-27 19:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 53,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20413135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strange_nut_pirate/pseuds/strange_nut_pirate
Summary: Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy live very different lives from one another, but when time and fate gets intertwined and tangled, they find themselves magically swapping bodies, and on a journey to meet each other for the first time. Meanwhile, a star approaches.





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the beginning of the story. A mess of time, two boys and a falling star. What will this unravel to?

There were stars falling from the indigo sky. They paved away across the endless canvas of blue with their own streaks of oranges, whites and purples tailing behind them. And that's all they were meant to do. They were never supposed to touch our atmosphere. We were never supposed to exist too close to them. But, alas, one made it down. A sparkling blue lake surrounded by small houses in nowhere, England. It had reflected the whole cosmos, and of course, the falling, burning star.

Some mornings, the blonde boy woke up crying without knowing why. That sort of thing happened now and again.

Now, a bright, bustling city. London. The heart of it, in fact. Tall towers, old churches, morning traffic, but no snow. It's the middle of summer, and the air is the kind of itchy warm that hugs your skin.

_And as for the other green-eyed one, he suffered the same. Whatever dream was that he had, he could never remember it._

Not a city. A room. It was cluttered, with fliers, and all sorts of stationary. His desk was even worse, covered in letters and books and late snacks he kept for himself, and sometimes for his owl. And though it was a sunny morning, the room was dark. It's blinds shut all the way, the green-eyed boy wanting to prolong the start of his day.

But… 

A smaller room, though much cleaner. The curtains were shut, but they still emitted a warm, pink light from it. The blonde boy welcomed it, even as he awoke from something so shakening. Works were stacked on shelves. Neat and organised. A wand lay near his bedside table, and a small, yellow diary sat next to it.

_But…_

The only thing that did last when he woke up, was a sense of loss, which lingered for a long time afterwards.

A train station. He's still in a daze. He got up, dressed, ate breakfast, left his apartment, and was on the scheduled train he was supposed to be on, but he still felt as if he were dreaming. The train was absolutely crowded, as it always was. The green eyed boy stared out the window of one train, looking out to the trains passing by his, the railroads, the town, the people. He wondered if anyone of them were part of wizardkind. Or maybe it was just him. Little did he know, the blonde boy was doing the exact same. They were looking… searching… 

_For something or someone._

He was consumed by this feeling. Ever since that day…

_The day…_

**A star fell.**

And there it was again. The falling star. Marked across the sky like a rebellious river. Five years ago. But yesterday as well. One boy was watching the star from the roof with his family. It passed right over him, as if to send him a message of importance. As if to remind him of something that hadn't happened yet. What could it be? What had he forgotten? Or who? 

And the other one. He was renewed and his previous self at the same time. He was not with his family. He was by himself, at least, that's how he felt. But seeing that star inch it's way across the sky towards him, and only him, he felt as if everything else melted away. His tears had either dried or continued to fall. He couldn't tell. He wasn't sure of anything anymore.

So there you have it. They must've been special, the two of them. They had to be some way. Even if they do not remember it. Time was twisted for a reason. Fate was entangled for a purpose. Surely. But the story isn't spoiled yet. It hasn't even truly begun, either. And despite what you think, the peculiarities, the romances, the friendships, the story hangs on that star that's being described to you now. It was… 

_It was almost like…_

Like he was seeing something out of a dream.

_Nothing more or less…_

Then a breathtaking view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously if you've read or seen ‘Your Name’, you know the gist of the story. Scorpius will be Mitsuha, and Albus is Taki, but I’ve put my own touches to the story to make the characters more like themselves, and also to suit the actual wizarding world of everything. More will be explained in detail in the next chapter!


	2. A Peculiar Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius starts his day. It's normal as always, except for how everyone's acting around him. Suffice to say, the morning’s going quite strangely…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some disclaimers before we start:
> 
> Obviously there's a lot of Japanese tradition that plays a big part in this AU. However, I don't know a lot about the tradition, so I altered it a bit, added some magic here and there and came up with something sort of like my own, but having the same effect to the plot eg. The offering, the dances, the festivals and the braided chords. I'm not trying to take the piss of these actual traditions, and I do take them seriously, which is why I thought it would be inappropriate for me to delve so deeply into something I wasn't familiar with. 
> 
> There's going to be plot holes. I'm sorry but that's a give away. I'm trying to transform one whole world to a match a completely different universe, and I'm trying to make it work. So there are some things that I'm going to mess up, and some things that won't make sense. I promise they won't be major, but if you do come across a plot hole, try your best to ignore it :)
> 
> Maybe I'll think of more disclaimers later but that's all I have for now. Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

There was a loud knocking sound. Something was telling him to get up. His alarm? Merlin, no. It couldn't be. He normally always woke up before his alarm went off thanks to his loud, clumsy dormmates. Plus, if he were actually late, they would have the courtesy to wake him up. Wouldn't they?

He rolled over slowly. Why was there sun in his eyes? There's no sun in the Slytherin dungeons. If someone was flashing him with their wand…. 

He couldn't be bothered. He rolled to his side and buried his face in his pillow, blocking out the light. He didn't know what the time was, but he knew it was too early. So he was going back to sleep. 

And it nearly worked too. He felt himself slip back into unconsciousness, when he heard a voice. A familiar one, but also, the voice of someone he had never heard before either.

_Albus…_

A sweet voice. A posh one too. Belonging to a boy who he couldn't see. Yet.

_Albus?_

It was louder this time. Where was this mystery boy coming from? 

_Albus!_

The mystery boy was shouting his name. Not in anger. Or fear. But in desperation. Like the boy was begging him.

_Don't you remember?_

This next line jogged his memory a bit… but not by much.

_The train doors slid open. The mystery boy was getting pushed out by the crowd. And Albus was there too. Somehow. And he felt nearly as panicked as the other boy looked. The sweet, posh voice that belonged to the boy was now heard in short bursts of exclamation as the crowd pushed him back further. He reached to his wrist, where a shimmering, black, braided wristband was wrapped around. He undid it, and threw it to Albus._

_“My name is…” the boy started as Albus caught the braid._

**Scorpius.**

Albus sat up and gasped. He had never felt more shaken by a dream before. As if, it was more than that. But he could not grasp it. He was already forgetting the boy’s face. The boy’s voice. The boy’s name.

Besides, it wasn't like he had the space to try and remember, for when he looked around at his surroundings, he came to realise that they weren't his surroundings at all. This wasn't his dorm. 

The room was way too big for that. He was sleeping in a king sized bed, all to himself, with warm-toned quilts on top of the doona, though it wasn't a cold morning. He had a huge oak cupboard, in the far end of the room with a mirror beside it. Two bookshelves, all filled with various books of magic, different creatures, some muggle books, but mostly books circulating the topic of healing. There was a window with a reading nook not too far from there, with cushions and pillows thrown on. There was even a fireplace, with armchairs near. Albus looked beside him and saw the bedside table, which had a book about healing (‘Mrs Hobokery’s Tips of Dealing with Piles and Pus’, if you must know). There was a stack of unused envelopes, and that blasted alarm that woke him up (a little piece of enchanted wood that kept knocking itself against the table, annoyingly loud).

Albus numbly reached across the bed and turned his alarm off. 

He rubbed his eyes and got up drowsily. This was probably just another dream. It wasn't long before he woke up, knowing dreams don't last long after you became self-aware. Yet, as he stood up, he couldn't help but feel as if he was… taller. That he was seeing things from a higher perspective.

Someone knocked on the door. Sooner rather than later, a tiny house elf came in timidly looking up at him.

“Mr Malfoy,” she squeaked. “Your breakfast is ready. Your father and grandmother are waiting for you downstairs and they ask for you to join them once you have dressed.”

Mr Malfoy? Dressing for dinner? Those were new ones. That named seemed familiar though…

Albus nodded, though confused, and the elf left the room.

“Wonder why I can't go down in my pyjamas…” Albus wondered, but his voice sounded different too. It was very sweet, and very posh. He liked it.

Nevertheless, he figured he might as well play along with this funny yet strange dream. What was the harm anyway?

He made his way to the cupboard, stripping his clothes of as he did so. And once he was there, looking through all the neatly folded clothes and absolutely destroying the organisation of it all, was when his eyes finally landed on the mirror beside him, and he could fully look at his bare body before him.

He was paler, _much_ more paler than how Albus looked usually with his somewhat tanner complexion, but the body he was in was taller and way more slender too. It also definitely was not his, judging by the silver eyes staring back at him. They looked curious, and not just from the way Albus felt, just in general. As if this boy always looked curious. He had full lips and dimples. Perfect teeth, dark eyebrows despite his shockingly blond hair. Platinum blond, as well. And it was natural. Albus had always knew platinum blond was an actual hair colour in the back of his head, but it was still shocking to see someone so naturally blond, let alone _be_ someone like that. 

He stared at himself for a good second, then it clicked. That he was actually _in_ someone else’s body.

“Wha--” he said, taken aback by just how different he was, but then grabbing the mirror in front of him in disbelief. “What?!”

_What was happening?_

~~~

“Good morning,” he called cheerily, rushing down the stairs in his disheveled uniform.

His grandmother was already waiting down for him, seated in her chair. Her greying hair was pinned up, nice and fancy as it's always been, for he couldn't remember another time her hair was styled differently. She viewed her grandson skeptically, but a smile soon bloomed her face. Narcissa Malfoy had grieved a lot after her husband died, but then she healed and seemed to be happier than ever now, happier even then when Lucius Malfoy was alive. She was more laid back of the pureblood traditions, but that still didn't mean the Malfoys were to slack off with their heritage. She loved Scorpius dearly (he had overheard her telling his father how much he reminded him of herself, which was funny since Scorpius’ personality took after his mother's), but she still expected the very same out of him. He shall marry a pure blooded witch, and bear at least one son. His father, on the other hand, didn't mind who he married, as long as he was happy. Narcissa also insisted on moving in at the Malfoy Manor, and since his father was such a ‘mummy’s boy’, he didn't decline.

And Scorpius couldn't deny, he didn't mind having an older woman around the house again. 

“Is dad off already?” Scorpius asked, kissing his grandmother on the cheek softly and making his way over to his seat along the lengthy, dark dining table. 

“Unfortunately, yes,” his grandmother sighed, rolling her eyes and returning back to her stern self. “He had some urgent matters to attend to at the Society, but you may see him later today.”

Scorpius nodded, staring at his breakfast table and deciding what to pile on his plate first.

The house elves outdid themselves (like they did every day), with plates of fried egg and bacon, sausages that were still sizzling (pork, chorizo and vegetarian), buttered toast with soft marmalade, jam, and sugar, different dips with salted breadsticks in the centre of the table, a freshly made steak pie drizzled with gravy, a few dishes of bangers and mash, and of course, macaroons. 

“So how was your sleep, grandma?” Scorpius chatted politely, then starting to chew slowly on a slice of pie. 

“Pleasant,” she stated simply, eyeing her grandson a bit _too_ suspiciously for Scorpius’ liking. Had he done something wrong? “And yours?” 

He washed his pie down with hot chocolate, with a bit more added sugar. Scorpius did have a guilty sweet tooth.

“A bit weirder than other times,” he admitted, grabbing a toast and smearing jam over it. More jam than he anticipated. “Wow! That's a lot. Oh, well.”

A bit more jam never hurt anyone.

“You're back to normal today,” his grandma remarked, still peering at him through her spectacles. 

“Pardon me, grandma?” He blinked innocently. _Back to normal?_

“You were acting quite absurd yesterday,” she answered nonchalantly, sipping her steaming tea (Scorpius marvelled at her ability not to burn her tongue, she liked her tea scorching hot).

“What do you mean ‘absurd’?” 

Before his grandmother could answer, one of the house elves, Ginger, hurried up to Narcissa holding out a red envelope. A howler. But not for the reason one might imagine. It was the daily howler they got every morning.

“Attention students, staff and guardians of _The Watson’s Society for the Gifted_, we interrupt your morning for your ongoing and upcoming news,” the Howler said in a bright, lady's voice. “However, this announcement is mostly in regard to the chairman election. The election shall be held on the 20th of next month. The election committee would like to remind everyone that--” 

“Ginger, grab Wemberly and Dorian. Inform them that we have finished our breakfasts, thank you,” Narcissa said, not waiting for Scorpius’ approval. She then gestured to the howler.

“Yes ma'am!” Squeaked Ginger.

The howler continued. 

“And of course, a comet that comes only every 1,200 years will finally be headed our way in two to three months. The comet will be visible to the naked eye of wizard and muggle kind for several days once it approaches the earth. And according to the spokesperson of astrology here at WSG, they're preparing for the celestial show of the millennium.”

“And get that blasted thing out of here. We've heard this all before,” Narcissa whined.

“Yes ma'am!” 

Scorpius quickly finished up his breakfast, and followed his grandmother dutifully.

“At Hogwarts, they never had this constant harassment,” she grumbled. 

There she was going on about Hogwarts. She's always disapproved of Scorpius going to this new, much smaller school on the other side of England, than going to Hogwarts just like the rest of his family before him. If it were up to Scorpius, he would want to go to Hogwarts too. It had always been his dream to see which house he would be in. See the people he read about in his history books, and actually get taught by them. Make friendships that lasted for a lifetime merely on the first train ride there. He would have never felt more accomplished.

But his father insisted on Scorpius attending ‘The Watson’s Society of the Gifted’, because it would give Scorpius what he could never dream of if he went to Hogwarts: a clean slate. A fresh start. And he was right, in the end. 

Of course, people still looked at him weirdly. Half knew of the Malfoys’ tainted name and bloody history, but the other half didn't due to the many young, foreign wizards and witches. Another distinction between Hogwarts and WSG, was that WSG was worldwide. It accepted any wizarding family with the special, unique, WSG portkey (a worldwide portkey, which could come in the form of anything small, as long as it had a silver umbrella on it, the logo of the school). And though the other wizards knew the basic gist of the Battle of Hogwarts, most foreigners didn't know the exact details. But, besides that, the school was still quite small. Who would want to attend a new academy on the upcoming when they could attend much more traditional, historical, famous and fully-staffed others? But that only served as a bonus, in Draco Malfoy’s opinion. Being a bit anonymous was the best for them, even if his prideful mother didn't agree.

Scorpius still couldn't help but long for Hogwarts, though. It was funny how he missed something he never had.

“Get ready now, Scorpius,” his grandmother dismissed, waving at him to go back upstairs. “Your friends will be waiting at your school soon enough. They always arrive so early.”

“Okay, yeah,” He nodded, going back upstairs to fetch his school supplies. 

He had already dressed and brushed his teeth before breakfast (his grandmother insisted he brush it before breakfast, she didn't want him coming down with a smelly breath, and she didn't care if it ruined the purpose), so he just packed for the subjects he would learn today, and the clothes he needed for that week. He brushed his hair, double-checked everything, and made sure that he had his portkey with him, but he always did (it was always in the form of bracelet charm, around the braided cord that was always on his wrist). Once he was sure he had everything, he made his way down to his grandmother, who was reading a book by the fireplace. 

“What book are you reading, grandma?” Scorpius asked, genuinely curious, as he tugged his bulky suitcase. It was evident that he was about to depart.

Narcissa looked up at him and rolled her eyes.

“Oh stop it with that. You're too inquisitive for your own good, you little bookworm,” she said putting the novel down. “Now hurry up and leave already. One thing we Malfoys never do is keep others waiting.”

“How do you know people are waiting for me?”

“I know your father is, as he is making that speech today for all of the Society,” she smirked as Scorpius shrunk into himself a bit with dread. “And if not, I can tell those two troublemakers are waiting for you.”

“Really?”

“And if not,” she continued, “then I bet someone else.”

She walked over to him and folded her arms.

“Now go.”

“You're not going to come with me?”

“I'll come later. I may still have a bit of packing to do.”

Scorpius smiled at his grandma, and kissed her on her plump cheeks, and she couldn't help but smile at the affectionate act.

“Ok then, but don't stress yourself if it's too much for you, grandma.”

Her smile melted and she threw her hands up into the air.

“Of course I have to go,” she huffed. “My family is there! It'll be too cold and lonely in this dark, good-for-nothing mansion, but that doesn't stop it from being preposterous! Five days! Only five days of _living_ there and we have to pack up and leave for another two, pack up and leave for another five again! And the accommodation isn't even standard. The design of each house is absolutely ghastly. Ghastly!”

She shook her head distastefully and walked away, muttering to herself. Scorpius didn't mind her constant complains. That was his classic grandma. 

But it was a bit of a pain packing all the time. Cole was always telling him to just leave his stuff either in the suitcase, or in his _Society House_, because it was easier. The thing was, you only had to be in WSG for the five week days, and you could be dismissed to go back home for the weekends. If you wanted to go back home between the weekdays after school ended, that was fine, but the portkeys were extremely disorienting, so most stuck to just Mondays and Fridays, unless it was for urgent matters. At WSG, you had an assigned house where you or your family could live during these days (your family was allowed to stay with you if they wished, they also receive portkeys of their own). It is also significant to mention, that WSG, or just _The Society_, was like a mini town, all built around a large lake. There was obviously the school and houses, if there was anything you needed to buy, there was a small shop. But, as the school was so small, so was the town. And so were the houses. And everything else. And it was a major con for more of the wealthier bloodlines. Which is why Scorpius was one of the only ‘rich’ wizards attending there.

Regarding the date, it was a Wednesday. The middle of the week. Scorpius was sleeping at his house the past few nights because he was sick last weekend, and for some reason, the medicinal potion couldn't travel through the loop with him. He also couldn't find it in the Society. However, after four nights of strict potions with Carnasay’s Cure, he was feeling top tier. Even with the amount of traveling he had to do, he was more immune to the disorienting than others. Though it still happened, it helped that he also lived in England, where WSG was located, so the jump was closer and less painful for him. Yet it still was not enjoyable.

But, back to Scorpius, who was now all packed and set to go. He took his charm off, and twisted it with one hand whilst he held the other with his suitcase. And in no time, with a _pop!_ so loud it could give someone a migraine, Scorpius was standing in the much smaller living space of his accommodation room.

The loud rapping at his front door snapped him back to reality. He quickly put his suitcase beside his bed and ran past his father’s room, that was already settled in with his things, and to the front door. He opened it not too soon after.

There were his two best friends. Lucy Olsen and Cole Stone. Lucy smiled brightly at him, whilst Cole gave a relieved sigh.

“Morning Scorpius,” Lucy said cheerily.

“Morning!” Scorpius eyes looked to Cole.

“Jeez, mate, what took you so long?” He complained, though Cole was also smiling now. “I was going to send in a letter if you didn't show up soon.”

“Good morning to you too, Cole,” he sighed happily.

Scorpius quickly got his satchel for the day and started walking beside Lucy and Cole, on his way to the school that sat atop a steep hill, overlooking the town and glimmering lake of the Society. 

“Didn't forget anything did you?” Cole teased Scorpius, as he knew how large Scorpius’ suitcase was.

“I don't think so…” he said, but then it dawned on him, and he immediately smacked his forehead. “My _owl_. How could I forget poor Darla? I reviewed my checklist tonnes of times before leaving, I must've forgotten to put her on my checklist! I should've reviewed that! And how am I supposed to write back to my grandmother and ask for her to pick her up for me? Oh, my dad was counting on me! He's going to be _so_ disappointed.”

Cole was snickering the whole time whilst Scorpius was stressing. Lucy glared at him in disgust.

“Why are you always laughing when Scorpius is in distress?” she hissed at him. “Cut it out.” 

“Or what?” Cole said, narrowing his eyes. “You'll smack me with your hair?”

Lucy flushed as she stared at him, insulted, and grabbed her hair self consciously. Scorpius thought it was sort of cute. He also thought Lucy had very nice hair. Sunny blond, not like his, it was more yellow. It was really long, down to her waist, and straight. She almost always had it in a ponytail. Scorpius couldn't recall a time where she had it down.

“You're always complaining about me being all hair-obsessed, but how about you, huh? You're always fixing it!”

As if on cue, Cole ran a hand through his short, cropped brown hair. He flashed her an irritated look, and was about to retort something when Scorpius blurted out:

“Y’know, you two would make a really cute couple.”

They were both red in the face and gaping at him.

“No we wouldn't!” They said in unison. 

The only thing those two would ever agree on. However, Scorpius was just telling the truth. He could tell they fancied each other, and have for a while now. He just wondered when they would catch on and make it official.

As they were walking, he kept realising Cole and Lucy looking at him strangely. As if they were observing him. Just like his grandma did this morning.

“I see you bothered to brush your hair today and come in uniform,” Lucy said, staring at him amusedly.

“Pardon?”

“Oh yeah, what happened?” Cole asked, raising his eyebrows and leaning into his friend. “Did your grandma exorcise all your demons?”

“Exorcise?” Scorpius asked, having no clue what he was on about.

“Something totally possessed your body.”

“Would you just give it a rest with all this occult nonsense?” Lucy snapped at Cole, who relented and gave Scorpius his personal space back. “Scorpius must be stressed enough as it is.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Scorpius asked, now extremely confused. 

“Are you feeling okay?” Cole asked, a worried expression crossing his face.

Before any of the three friends could go on, a loud familiar voice was speaking, enhanced with volume by an Amplifying Charm.

“And above all,” said the blond man, in a dark suit, who shared Scorpius’ hair, nose and eyes, “restoring this school’s recruiting of young magical prodigies, so we can continue to build the Society on more stable pillars--”

“Hey look, it's your dad,” Lucy said.

“Way to point out the obvious,” Cole counted as Lucy nudged him.

“I just didn't know he was making a speech today, is all.”

Scorpius was desperate to walk on. He started to worm his way through the small crowd of people, watching his father intently. Guilt later settled in.

He loved his dad and knew he probably should stop to support him, but he ran for chairman almost every year since Scorpius started attending WSG, and won almost every year too. At first, his father said it was to make sure Scorpius was safe, but now, Scorpius wasn't even sure. He was starting to think that his dad signed Scorpius up to the Society for his sake too. It didn't help that others ridiculed him for it. A Death Eater being chairman at a Society. What was next? His dad running for Headmaster?

“Only once these things are achieved, then we can create a safe and secure community,” Draco continued. 

It was crazy how much physical features Scorpius and Draco shared, but how they also looked very different. For one, Draco’s face was drenched with age and the sternest that comes with it. He was also the man that had survived many hardships in his life, and played the part somewhat, though he tried not to. He was always so pristine, nearly _too_ pristine, and though his posture was always erect, it still seemed he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. His childhood. The death of his wife. Raising a child by himself. It all caught up with him. There was also the fact that he hardly ever smiled.

Scorpius, in truth, was quite the opposite. The boy was a free spirit thus far, curious, inspired and wide-eyed at the world. He was quite clumsy, but had a good nature and heart. He would hardly ever _not_ smile.

“Malfoy’s going to win, anyways,” Scorpius heard a man whisper to an elderly woman as he and his friends continued to snake past.

“Yeah,” the woman said. “It's not like anyone can take their job more seriously than him.”

“Hey Malfoy Jr,” Kyran Knowles smirked.

Scorpius’ stomach dropped. If there were any people he wanted to avoid more, it was Kyran Knowles, and his two friends who were now giggling behind him in mockery: Brooke Davids and Pearl Williams. 

“Morning,” he said quietly, looking at his feet.

His eyes looked towards Cole who, miraculously, was also keeping his head down.

“Looks like the chairman and the magical contractor’s sons are pretty cozy,” he sneered and Brooke and Pearl started to giggle even more and make ‘oooh’ing noises.

“Funny to think the magical contractor is foreign and the chairman is an ex-Death Eater,” Pearl said wondrously, and Scorpius felt Cole tense beside him. Lucy looked helpless.

Cole and Lucy weren't from England. Lucy was from Akranes, Iceland. And Cole was from Brisbane, Australia. That may be why they didn't have any initial issues to hold back against Scorpius. They hadn't known the firsthand horrors and mayhem the Death Eaters stirred up previously, when the war was going on. Lucy was adopted by an Icelandic muggle couple, and she grew up not knowing anything about the magical world before an invitation from the Society showed up at her front door, and she started connecting the dots as to how she could do things others around her could not. Cole was a half blood. His father was a wizard who went to Mahoutokoro School of Magic in Japan, and only heard of the Battle of Hogwarts from across the world. He then moved back to Australia to settle down. Both Lucy and Cole knew Death Eaters were bad, and that Scorpius was the son of someone who used to be, but they didn't mind all that much. Kyran, Pearl and Brooke, were ruthless, on the other hand.

The group kept walking. Past the giggling trio.

“Of each and every resident!” Draco concluded on his short podium, oblivious of the drama happening below. But, as a parent always manages to do, Draco found his child in the crowd. Hunched over, shrinking into himself, trying to be invisible and shuffle on. But that wasn't the way he was supposed to carry himself…

“Scorpius!” Draco shouted across the crowd to his son, who jumped and gave a frightened squeak.

Father and son locked eyes for a split second.

“Stand up straight when you're walking!”

Scorpius’ face bloomed with colour and he immediately straightened his posture. He could hear his classmates giggling louder behind him, and feel the eyes of many people on him.

“Awkward,” Brooke sniggered.

“Oh, he's tough on his family,” Scorpius heard one woman murmur to a man (seriously, these people weren't the greatest at keeping their voices down).

“Well, those are the Malfoys for you,” the man replied gruffly.

Scorpius walked faster.

“Scorpius, wait up!” He heard Lucy call behind him as she jogged a bit to match his pace.

“It's always in front of everyone,” Scorpius sighed, though deep down, he knew he shouldn't be complaining. 

But sometimes he couldn't help it. It wasn't his fault that sometimes, he just wanted a bit more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was more to get you readers introduced to this world and new school I created for Scorpius. I know it's very overwhelming, even though not much ‘plot-wise’ is going on at the moment, but this was the hardest part to get out of the way so good job for getting through it. I know I probably left out some very important details, so if you still have questions, hit me! If you understand the picture I'm trying to paint, then good on you! Much more happens the next chapter so stay with me here.


	3. Forgotten Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get weirder for Scorpius. Not only does he find concerning, blank holes in his memory, and weird, suspicious notes in his diary that don't belong to him, he also has seemed to embarrass himself during one of his memory-loss phases. And he really doesn't need more mortification…

_Who are you?_

“What the…?”

Scorpius looked at his notebook, and the messy handwriting he didn't recognise, and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. His history of magic teacher was currently lecturing the class about the power of different parts of the day, and how it affected time and history, and Scorpius was supposed to be writing down notes. But upon opening his textbook, he found the words written in large letters across the paper. 

But despite the lack of answers, the question still remained:

_Who are you?_

“Crepusculum,” his teacher said, boldly, but not boldly enough to distract Scorpius from the weird note. “We know that as ‘twilight’ in English, and I'm sure everyone here knows the time of day and meaning of that word. It’s dusk, a time where it's neither day nor night.”

Was this handwriting Kyran’s? Scorpius knew he'd like to mess with him.

“When the border between worlds blur,” his professor went on, “and one might encounter something not human. It happens to all powerful wizards and witches in history, as twilight can be used for manipulating the way of the future…”

Maybe it was Brooke’s or Pearl’s? Or could it possibly be Cole? Or maybe Lucy?

“Another, older term for it is _‘Dusk-Light’._ Some people also call it _‘Golden Hour’.”_

“How about _‘Magic Hour’?_” One of the kids in his class said. “It's something my grandma says.”

No, it couldn't be Cole’s or Lucy’s. They didn't write like this. But for some strange reason, Scorpius still felt as if he knew who wrote this. It wasn't a big deal, so why did he feel as if it was..? 

“Well,” the teacher went on, “_Golden Hour_ and _Magic Hour_ are technically the same, but it's a term mostly magizoololigists and muggle photographers use.”

“She does take a lot of pictures and she's been obsessed with billywigs recently,” the guy said, and the whole class erupted with sniggers.

Maybe this mystery person wrote something else? Scorpius started to flip through the pages, searching for any more notes, but alas, nothing. It was only that page. He concentrated hard on remembering who it might be, but he came to no conclusions. He swore he knew it from somewhere though… 

“Malfoy!” His professor called, snapping Scorpius out of his daze.

“Uh, yes!” He squeaked, sitting straighter than he was previously.

“Well,” his teacher smiled, amused, “I can see that you remember your own name today.”

The whole class laughed again, but Scorpius still had no clue what was going on. He glanced at Lucy and Cole, who were sitting beside him, and they both looked somewhat concerned for him. This day was getting weirder and weirder… 

Scorpius was just starting to think that maybe he missed something.

~~~

“You don't remember?” Lucy cried at lunch break.

Scorpius shook his head.

“Well, believe it or not, you forgot where your own desk and the school were yesterday,” she said, leaning against the trunk of the tree they were sitting under. “Plus, you had the worst case of bedhead, and you didn't have your braided chord bracelet on either, which means you lost your portkey, and you, Cole and I had to spend an hour after school trying to find it.”

Scorpius imagined a dirty, disorganised, and even worse, _messy_ version of himself. In his mind, his evil twin had bags under his eyes, yellow teeth and was evilly snickering, scaring Cole, Lucy, and giving his father and grandma a heart attack.

Scorpius shook his head again, determined to get the image out of his mind. That _couldn't_ of been him. Scorpius would never show up to school looking like he just crawled out of bed. That was preposterous.

“No way!” Scorpius squeaked, dawning on him that his own _father_ could've seen him in that state. 

“Yeah,” Lucy said, confirming it all and destroying Scorpius’ pride. “It was like you had amnesia or something.”

“Now that you mention it,” Scorpius said, staring into space, remembering his recent nights, some flashes of memory that wasn't his, and just how _weird_ things have been lately for him, “I do feel like I've been having weird dreams lately.”

Lucy stared at him curiously, and Cole perked up at that. If what they were saying about Scorpius’ recent behaviour, he concluded that he should give more details to them. He just couldn't find the right words to describe it.

“Like a dream about… someone else's… life?” He said, straining himself to remember. “Um, it’s all so fuzzy. I can't seem to remember any of it that much.”

“Wait a sec, I've got it!” Cole exclaimed, clapping his palms together and getting that wild glint in his eyes every time he had a conspiracy. “It's memories from a previous life! Or maybe your subconscious linked into the imminent interpretation of a multiverse!”

“Keep your full mouth shut!” Lucy snapped at Cole, making him flinch back. “Stop talking nonsense.”

“Wait a minute, Cole,” Scorpius said, “don't tell me you're the one who wrote in my notes…”

He didn't finish. He knew it couldn't of been Cole. His confused face just proved it.

“Forget it,” he said sheepishly. 

“But you really were acting a little funny yesterday, Scorpius,” Lucy said gently. It was funny how quick she could go from snapping at Cole to ‘mom mode’ with Scorpius. 

Cole nodded suspiciously. He wanted answers, but Scorpius didn't have them.

“You've been feeling okay? Is this about that flu you had recently?”

“That's what's weird,” Scorpius said, pulling his knees towards him and hugging them to his chest, “I feel fine.”

And he was telling the truth.

“Maybe it's from stress,” Lucy offered. “You know, you have that speech and ritual coming up soon, don't you?”

Scorpius groaned in anguish.

“Don't remind me,” he muttered.

As the eldest and only child of the chairman of the Society, Scorpius was also issued to be a Student Representative of WSG. He, along with his female partner who was a representative, had to make speeches addressing the sacred land on which they stand and their original founders, whilst performing the ritual where they dance together to the anthem of the Society (an anthem the Society signed off as a treaty to their ancient, magical founders), and also make a traditional ‘Draught of Time’ potion. And spit in it. As an offer to them. Why their magical founders would appreciate a draught with spit in it, Scorpius didn't know. 

Scorpius was performing the ritual for the second time. He first did it in year four, when he was finally old enough. He messed up the dancing with Rachel Green, who was a year older than him. That earned a few laughs of mockery from his schoolmates, and a few nights of staying up in mortified horror after the incident for Scorpius. He wasn't thrilled to be back at it again this year, but he was the son’s chairman, and no other boy wanted to be Representative of WSG, so alas, Scorpius was performing again.

But what was worse was his female partner, Charm Brooks, was going to Moscow for her parents’ wedding in that time period. They could've just chose another girl to fill in for her, but no, the Society seemed to want to torture Scorpius even more by telling him to solo dance and do the potion himself. He was going to be a drooling fool. Literally. In front of everyone.

Suddenly, he burst.

“This whole Society wants to torture me!” He vented, sighing dramatically. “It's beautiful, I guess, but it's so small and towny! Hogwarts would be so amazing! Did you know no one knows specifically where it's located, though everyone suspects it's up near the Scottish Highlands? It said so Volume IV of _Hogwarts: A History_. I wish there was a way to see it in person once you graduate. I could become a professor, but I'm pretty dead-set on being a healer…”

Somehow, Scorpius’ favourite subject of rants was always Hogwarts. Lucy listened politely, but Cole looked as if he were getting irritated. He always loved the Society, maybe because he could actually _attend_ it.

“Did you know they also come with their own little town called Hogsmeade? My father told me, but it's only accessible if you're a student,” Scorpius said, pouting again. “I wish I could go there…”

“Can't say I blame you,” Lucy sighed, gesturing with her hands at the environment around them. “I mean, there's really nothing to do at all here.”

“There's no bookstores,” Scorpius said, forlornly.

“No dentists or proper healers,” Lucy interjected.

“All the shops close at nine o’clock.”

“Two cocktail lounges for whatever reason.”

“No local restaurants,” Scorpius finished, cracking a cheeky smile, “and no one dateable.”

“Even the days are too short,” Lucy sniggered as Cole cracked it.

“Well, you know what?” He cried.

“No, what?” 

He seemed to pause and think. Then his eyes brightened, like a lightbulb had switched on in his mind. And it had.

“Forget that stuff,” he said. “Why don't we all go to see some Quidditch after school?”

_“Quidditch?”_ Lucy said in disbelief.

_“Where?”_ Scorpius squealed.

~~~

“How is _this_ Quidditch?” 

“Like this place has Quidditch.”

Lucy and Cole sat on a bench beside a footpath. A magical vending machine stood beside it. You looked at the little menu of drinks and snacks provided, used your wands to order and you could see the vending machine make it for you, for the price of a few galleons. Then there was a screen attached on the back of it where you could see some Muggle sports, or some wizarding sports. Other than that, nothing too great. Hence why Cole and Lucy was drinking lukewarm, canned butterbeer, sitting on the bench at twilight, or Magic Hour, whatever you wanted to call it. 

Scorpius was nowhere in sight.

“Scorpius just went straight back to his Society House,” Lucy said, a worried expression crossing her face.

“Yeah, but he did apologise about a million times before bailing,” Cole shrugged, chugging his butterbeer.

“I know,” she replied, looking up at the houses that spread along uphill. “But things must be hard for him at the moment.”

“He's on centre stage and all. Solo. In front of most of the whole Society.”

“Yeah.”

A lost feeling washed over Lucy, and she looked at her best friend beside her, who lived on the other side of the earth, and also seemed to not have a care in the world. She wondered… 

“Hey, Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you going to do once you graduate?”

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked at her. Unbeknownst to him, her heart jumped to her throat.

“Where did that come from?” He asked, thinking they were only at fifth year and still had a long way to go before graduating. “Are you talking about the future?”

She nodded, a soft smile forming on her lips.

“I don't know,” Cole said, mostly because he didn't want to know either. He couldn't imagine himself without Lucy or Scorpius or the Society. Once they all graduated, they'd all be on three different sides of the earth. Well, at least he would be. But he felt like he owed Lucy an answer.

“Maybe I'll just probably end up living in Brisbane, you know? Same as ever.”

A heavy silence settled over the two as they contemplated what was to come in their future. 

They had no idea… and they never would.

~~~

“Focus, Scorpius,” his grandmother told him sternly as she weaved her threads in and out with expertise and ease.

Scorpius was braiding an easier cord. This was always a pastime he did with his grandma about once a week, because it made her happy and he felt it was important to build a strong bond with her. She had become his female guardian ever since his mother passed, and even though she didn't approve of Astoria, she certainly had her to thank for her loveable grandson.

Narcissa enjoyed braiding cords, it was what her pureblooded mother, Druella, had taught each of her daughters to master. Bellatrix gave up after failing multiple times, and since she threw the worst hissy fits, her mother didn't push her. Andromeda was too impulsive for the act, and also backed out, which wasn't much of a surprise, her leading up to the disappointment she now is. But Narcissa stayed, and learnt. She tried to pass the technique down to Draco, since she didn't have any daughters to teach, and he was learning slowly, but then Voldemort was rebirthed and the rest was history. 

But at least she had someone to teach now.

Scorpius liked braiding cords with his grandma, but his favourite part was casting the spell of _‘bond and binding’_ at the end.

“Did you know, etched within these braided chords are the thousand years worth of the Malfoy Tree history,” she spoke. “Something happened 200 years ago…”

Scorpius giggled, “Here we go.”

Narcissa ignored him.

“Your great great great grandfather, Cygnus Black the second, performed an _Incendio_ spell wrongly, and his wand’s aim was off. He accidentally set his niece, Charis, on fire, along with half of the Manor’s library.”

“I know, grandma. And it's not any less terrible.”

Narcissa continued. 

“Half of its documents and novels were destroyed, this is known as--”

“The Cygnus Fire,” Scorpius said, answering for his grandma. “I still find it horrid that they named the fire after him. I feel bad.”

“The meaning behind such ancient, pureblooded celebrations and traditions is lost because of that, and all these muggle borns being accepted into wizarding schools and bringing their muggle culture with them. Shaping us to be exactly like them,” Narcissa sniffed disapprovingly, but if Scorpius was honest, he quite liked Muggle culture and Muggles in general. They evolved much quicker than wizards and witches, to say the least, and Scorpius found them interesting. 

Narcissa continued. “Only the surface is left. But even if those words are gone the tradition shouldn't fade. That's our duty, as a purebloods, and rarities of the wizarding world, that is our task. And that is also why you will give it your best when performing at the festival.”

Scorpius gulped. 

Narcissa’s only comfort in the Society was the traditional festivals dedicated to the magical creatures and founding purebloods or the land. She found the respect and significance of each festival relishing. No Halloweens or Grand New Years Balls. That was overrated. 

Scorpius wouldn't mind attending balls for overrated holidays. He wouldn't mind at all. 

As for Draco, he didn't really care about the holidays. His life was revolving around the Society at the moment, and Scorpius was anything but bothered by it, as long as he was happy. However, Narcissa was bothered by it. Just the thought of her one, true, beloved son not taking traditional pureblood performances seriously was enough to give her a migraine. 

Narcissa groaned and massaged her shoulders, as she thought about Draco, and what she was to do with him.

“Despite all that,” she sighed, “that son of mine! Abandoning our sacred routines every Malfoy does is bad enough. But politics? He's absolutely hopeless!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to leave braided cords in there because they play a big part in the story, and I didn't want to change it too much. But I did change the ritual quite a bit. And even though I love Draco as a father, there will have to be more Narcissa acting as a parenting adult due to the role the grandmother plays in the actual movie. But hey, it's an AU! So anything’s allowed :)
> 
> And don't worry, you'll meet Albus in the next chapter.


	4. The First Switch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius craves something more than just his life at the Society, and he wants to be somewhere quite specific. Hogwarts. But he's not prepared to actually _see_ it, let alone attend it. Even if it's just all just a dream.

“Have another, Mr Stone.”

“Cheers mate.”

With that, Maurice Stone took another swig of butterbeer as Draco Malfoy sat across from him, stiff, but with a tight smile.

“I'll be counting on you for this year’s election,” Draco said, looking at his contractor across from him. Maurice looked like he was having fun with his colleagues, but Draco had remembered to keep his wits about him. Business was business after all.

After chugging his butterbeer, Maurice grinned slyly at Draco.

“Leave it to me,” he said. “We’ll get the votes from the west and south side of the Society guaranteed.”

All around, younger men bickered and chattered, talking about life and cracking jokes. Most everyone was tipsy, except Draco, who hadn't touched any alcohol. On normal circumstances, he would feel quite uncomfortable, and he did, but if this was what it took to get the Society’s best contractor on his side, then he guessed it was worth it.

Next door, eating his dinner of beef stew with his mother, was Cole, smirking at the boisterous laughter from outside. 

“Smells like corruption in there,” he remarked.

“What’re you talking about?” His mum said playfully.

Turns out, muggles can also use the WSG portkey as long as they were blood related to their child attending, or the school personally approves of them. Lucy had to attend most of her first year without her adopted parents, and spent most of her time living at Cole’s house until her two moms were approved. 

“We’re gonna need two or three more bottles of butterbeer,” his father stated as he stepped into the room heavily.

“Yes, dear,” his wife said, and obediently went to the fridge to fetch some more. 

His father turned towards Cole.

“Cole, you're going to work out at the site this weekend. You'll be using explosives so you better study up.”

Cole didn't want to go to the site. 

As well as being a contractor, his father also controlled the electric power station for the muggle born son who'd rather have electricity than torches or magic. He wanted to groom Cole into being like that, so he could work in the Society when he was older, or earn some sort of living back in Brisbane. 

When Cole didn't answer his father’s comment, Maurice glared at his son.

“What was that?” He snapped.

“Got it!” Cole answered back frustratedly.

Later that night, when all the men were gone and the hose was quiet once more, Cole stared out into the night from his bedroom door. He could vaguely estimate the area where Scorpius was staring, and he thought back to what Scorpius said about Hogwarts, and how cramped it was here.

He sighed.

“Guess we both can't stand this place, huh?” He asked to no one.

~~~

A turn. A twist. Jingle your bell. That's it. Don't fall over your feet. Ok, so far, so good. Just don't pay mind to everyone watching you.

Scorpius’ solo dance was okay so far, he was getting all the moves right, along with the soft music playing in the background, but he felt as stiff as a tree. It was probably because of all the eyes staring at him. His grandma was somewhere in the crowd. His father was somewhere in the crowd. Lucy and Cole were somewhere in the crowd. Was he disappointing them? Embarrassing them?

No. If he started thinking like that, then that will guarantee him to do something stupid.

Torches danced around him, lighting him up as he was on stage, but also darkening the crowd below him. He couldn't see any of their faces. Why was it so quiet? Was the music supposed to be this quiet? He could hardly tell if he was offbeat…

Oh, now was the time to make the potion! The ingredients were being laid out before him. Wait, how did you make it again? He had to think. Remember. 

His hands started moving before his mind did. He had to make the potion with confidence and full knowledge of himself, which was difficult, since he was quite stage-spooked. Finally, the brewing was finished. It was sparkly, palsy green. Was it supposed to be that colour? He hoped so. Now he just had to drool in it… 

“Oh! I'd never do that!” A voice from the crowd exclaimed in disgust. It was Brooke’s. “And for the second time!”

“Also, in front of everybody,” Pearl’s voice remarked. 

“Embarrassing, right?”

Ignore them. Ignore them. _Ignore._

He just had to get this over with.

~~~

“Cheer up, Scorpius,” his father ordered as he, his son and his mother walked back towards their house. “What does it matter if a few insolent children from your school saw that?”

“It must be nice being an adult,” Scorpius said, wistfully. 

“I think you did great, grandson,” his grandmother said, which raised his morale a little bit.

“If those kids are bothering you that much, I will have a talk about it with the headmaster,” Draco said, putting a protective hand on his son’s shoulder.

Scorpius shook his head quickly.

“No dad, it's alright.”

“Then get used to it,” Narcissa sniffed. “It's most likely you'll be performing next year too.”

And down went Scorpius’ morale again. He was already sulking over what he had to go through tonight, and now he had to worry about next year? A good escape is what Scorpius needed. A good escape up in books, magic, maybe Quidditch, possibly creatures, no more portkeys or small houses or embarrassing traditions… 

Why was he thinking about Hogwarts again?

Surely, the place wasn't as amazing as he was making it out to be. But then again, he would never know.

Until he fell asleep that night.

~~~

The sound of shuffling woke him up.

He adjusted his sleeping position. He didn't know why anyone would be in his room at this early time. Maybe it was his grandmother looking for something. Or his father thinking he forgotten something or rather.

But then he heard, “Ow! Dude!”

That wasn't the voice of anyone he knew. It was a boy’s voice, maybe a bit older than him, and it seemed like he was talking to someone else.

“Sorry! I promise I'll-- what? No! Brice, don't kick it!”

“Your fault for being such a mess, Eiji.”

“Says you.”

“Yeah, says me!’”

Scorpius sat up abruptly in his bed, alarmed by the strangers. But then he realised it wasn't his bed at all. It was a room with five beds, for starters. And they were all four poster beds with green curtains and fluffy eiderdowns. Each bed had a space where storage and trunks were situated, probably belonging to the four other boys who probably lived here too. They also seemed like they were underwater, the only windows seeming to look out into water, maybe a lake, or an ocean. Green lights filtered from the torches down here, and Scorpius took note how chilly it was. Overall, the place gave off a rich (yet simpler compared to the Malfoy Manor), fancy, yet homely vibe. Even though Scorpius had never been here, he felt a familiar feeling, like he knew the place. Where was he… 

“Well, lookie here!” The other guy who had originally spoke, Brice, exclaimed, and Scorpius realised with distress that the guy was addressing him. “Sleeping beauty has awoken! Buenos dias, amigo. Parece que finalmente te has levantado de entre los muertos.”

The boy was tall, definitely Latino, but had bright, electric greenish-aquamarine eyes. They were quite dazzling, actually. He had a musty brown buzz cut, and a slim body. His posture was chilled but sassy at the same time, and his smirk was almost intimidating, even though he was obviously addressing a friend.

The boy next to him who he had been arguing with earlier, Eiji, was of Asian descent. He had shoulder-length black hair, and his body build was much more muscular. Even so, his dark eyes were kind, and his smile was even friendlier. He looked less intimidating compared to his friend beside him.

He stared blankly at the both of them, and sooner or later, Brice snickered.

“Perdóneme, señor, pero ¿sabe dónde estoy?” Scorpius asked, and he immediately knew it wasn't his voice he was talking with.

He looked down on himself and realised in horror that his skin was different. His pyjamas was different. 

He was wearing green pyjamas with mismatching socks, and tanner skin. With freckles on his arms. He didn't know if there were freckles on his face or body, and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. 

He looked up at the two boys again and they were gaping in shock.

_Uh oh, I've done something wrong,_ Scorpius thought in dread.

“Since when could you speak Spanish?” Brice exclaimed, his face contorting in something between wonder, curiosity and offense. “And why didn't you tell me you were taking classes? I could've helped you, mate.”

Scorpius could speak quite a bit of languages. At least, the basics of them. He found them interesting, and since he was such a fast learner, he excelled in this area of topic. But most people knew that so… 

Something was very, very wrong.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Scorpius said in the stranger’s voice, and quickly rushed to where the bathroom was located at the back of the room. On the way there, he bumped into another guy coming out of the bathroom, who glared at him slightly.

Upon entering, he hastily shut the door. He looked at himself in the mirror.

Emerald green eyes. Unruly, tight curls of black bed hair. A shocked expression. The boy in front of him was smaller, he could tell from how high everything seemed to be. He also had much more calloused hands then Scorpius, who had hands that were more delicate. Not to mention the boy looked a bit older than Scorpius. A bit more mature. The boy in front of him had a thinner mouth, thicker eyebrows and freckles that washed over his nose and cheeks. His hair was untamed and messy, and even if Scorpius liked cleanliness, he didn't mind this kind of messy. It looked naturally good. But as he took in the guy in front of him, he had to admit the most striking thing about him was his eyes. Bright green, that were intimidating, but also sent a shock through Scorpius’ spine. His eyelashes were thick, and naturally curled, and something about them, made Scorpius think he knew them from somewhere, though he definitely did not know the guy he was. Or wasn't.

Whatever the case, if he was going to be in someone else's body, at least he was an attractive boy.

“Are you done in there, mate?” He heard Eiji yell from outside. “You're taking ages!”

“Sorry! I'll be right out!” Scorpius called back frantically, and he took to notice that his voice wasn't as posh. It was still an English accent (Brice and Eiji also had English accents, which relieved Scorpius, because it was then most likely he was still in England).

Scorpius splashed some water in his face, and after coming out, Eiji went in, and Brice was there, nagging him to get dressed.

“Hurry up!” He exclaimed. “What's wrong with you today? We’re missing breakfast!”

“What?” Scorpius blanked.

“Get your uniform on, mate! We have Transfiguration first, and the Headmistress will not be pleased if we're late for that. And Easton too! He's going to give us a whole lecture about schedule again. He might use other methods like last time. Remember what happened?”

No, Scorpius did not remember what happened. And he was to busy being distracted to think about it too much, because he was finally getting where he might be. Headmistress, school breakfasts, dorm rooms, and most importantly: Brice’s uniform. A black coat, with a grey sweater, black pants, but it was the tie and the little logo on the cloak that made Scorpius’ newly green eyes open with excitement. The tie was green, with silver stripes. The logo was green with a silver snake on it, the words _Slytherin_ imprinted beneath it.

For confirmation, Scorpius scrambled to his trunk beside the bed he woke up on, and rummaged around for his uniform. And there it was. Cloak. Tie. Everything. His Slytherin uniform.

“I'm at Hogwarts,” Scorpius murmured in disbelief, a crazed grin spreading across his face. _I’m at Hogwarts!_

He wasn't aware that Brice had heard him, and was now staring at him as if his friend had gone insane, which he may well have.

“Bloody hell, Albus, have you been hexed? First you wake up speaking Spanish, spend most of your morning in the bathroom for Merlin knows what, lose all sense of time, and now you've only just seem to realise where you are!” He exclaimed.

_So his name is Albus._

Scorpius beamed and stood up, bursting with a newfound excitement to leave the dorms and look at all the amazing things Hogwarts had to offer.

“I'm going to change quickly, and then I'll be right over to the classes!” 

Brice didn't look convinced.

“Do you need help with carrying your books? I know your aunt packed you a lot.”

“No thanks,” he said, but then hesitated and turned back to Brice sheepishly. “Uh, do you know exactly where I keep my Transfiguration things?”

Brice’s jaw dropped.

~~~

Hogwarts. He was at _Hogwarts_. Scorpius had never imagined he would ever be here. But he was. As someone else, but himself all the same. It never truly clicked in Scorpius’ brain that he was there until he walked out of his dorm rooms, and into the Slytherin common room. 

Lamps and torches of green lit the room full of sophisticated furniture and students wearing black robes and shamrock coloured ties. They loitered around, busying themselves with different things. Some scribble with their feather quill, on their parchment filled of last-minute homework. Others (couples mostly) cuddled on the couches and loveseats. People chattered near the fireplace, that crackled with light, heating up the dark and cold dungeon a bit. Some played chess near the dark wooden cupboards at the back of the common room. Others stared out of the windows, into the Great Lake’s water, that gave the room a green glow. Tapestries of famous Slytherin wizards and witches lined the walls of the room, and Scorpius knew most of them (he was a bit of a research geek). All in all, the Slytherin common room may be dark, cold and a bit unnerving at first, but Scorpius felt right at home, right away (he did grow up in the Malfoy Manor, so he was used to these dingy yet sophisticated places). He beamed at the thought of his father and grandmother staying in the same common room he was now in.

He may of let out a small squeal, because Brice looked back at him and scowled. He grabbed his wrist and pulled him along.

“Honestly,” he huffed. “I can't believe I have to be the one telling you what to do. Seriously, I don't want us to be late to Transfiguration because Headmistress McGonagall will chop off our heads if we fall behind. I don't want another NEWT lecture.”

Scorpius stopped in his tracks.

“Did you say McGonagall?” He breathed out in disbelief and rising excitement. “You mean, _Minerva McGonagall?!”_

Brice shifted uncomfortably. Scorpius guessed he wasn't doing much at all to cover up that he wasn't who everyone thought he was, but at the moment he didn't care. He was at Hogwarts, and it was his dream to come here since he was little. Who cares if he didn't feign normality? He was a terrible actor, anyways. And this was all just a weird dream in the end. Even with the expanding bounds of magic, it had its limits. It would be impossible if this were real. So he might as well enjoy himself as much as he can.

“I see you don't have your little bracelet on either,” Brice appraised, his voice surprised in a way where he was trying to make the comment seem casual, but was failing due to his curiosity.

“Bracelet?” Scorpius asked, but then decided he probably shouldn't ask what it is, so he just carried on with what Brice was going at. “Should I go back and get it?”

Brice seemed a bit more relieved after that, so Scorpius assumed he had said the right thing.

“No, it's fine, I'm just surprised is all,” he continued. “You always wear that thing. But, and don't deck me, it looks kinda plain. All it is is a threaded black braid thing with a charm on it. And you won't even tell me what it means! I swear I'll find out what you're hiding, by the way.”

Scorpius giggled at that, but couldn't help but feel his heart flip as Brice described the bracelet. It sounded like the one he sometimes wore, which he kept in a nice leather case in his room. One of the first cords he ever braided. For his mother, but it was returned to him after she died. Which is why it was so special to him. Only the people he loved most got to try it on. But surely this boy didn't have the same braided cord as him. There was only one like his and that _was_ his, because he was the maker. But he was also a bit intrigued about the backstory of this _other_ cord.

They made it to Transfiguration just on time. It took extra time to actually go there due to Scorpius having to stop and admire everything and everyone walking by him. There were tapestries of dead wizarding icons around the hallways, either glaring or smiling down at the pupils before them. Ghosts of various importance floated around the halls, and gave Scorpius odd looks as he waved at all of them. There were windows framing the grounds outside of the vast castle, the forbidden forests lining the perimeter of Hogwarts’ grounds. He could see the Care of Magical Creatures class starting to file in to start the day. He could see the Quidditch grounds, and he gasped in pleasure. He put that on his bucket list to go visit that later (maybe he'd even get to fly!). And then there were the professors, the ones he had read all about in his history books. Everything was so much better in person.

He didn't have time to admire everything in scrutiny, as Brice was literally dragging him by the time they got to Transfiguration class. 

“Mr Stevens and Mr Potter,” Minerva Mcgonagall addressed as they rushed into the classroom, looking disheveled. “Nice of you to join us.”

“We’re on time, Headmistress!” Brice blurted, and the class giggled a bit, making his ears go red.

“Just in time for me to start, you two are lucky. You won't be getting a detention this time, but let me see you do your best this class.”

Brice gulped, and Mcgonagall turned her steely eyes to Scorpius.

“Mr Potter, do be polite and close your mouth. Or you just might swallow a Billywig.”

The class chuckled again and Scorpius’ cheeks bloomed in color. Though, he didn't know how much it showed with his tanner complexion. With his original pale skin, everyone could tell when Scorpius blushed.

He had learnt two things: one, that Mcgonagall, a Hogwarts hero and current Headmistress, addressed him and it was absolutely awesome. And two, he was the son of Harry Potter. Which was crazy, shocking and exciting, but he also didn't know how he didn't guess before. He looked quite like him, and he was pretty sure he heard of the name ‘Albus Potter’ in The Prophet before. But he didn't really read that a lot, and for good reason too, seeing what they said about him and his parents.

He numbly went to sit down with Brice, next to a brunette boy with indigo eyes and a beauty mark who immediately started to quietly fret over them. He was also in Ravenclaw, and Scorpius was about to burst with questions for him, but the boy beat him to it.

“Where were you two this morning?” He hissed accusingly. “I didn't see you at breakfast, and you were nearly late for Transfiguration again, and you both look like you just got up from bed.”

“Relax mate,” Brice calmed, putting his hands up. “It’s not my fault we were nearly late. Albus was taking forever to jack off in the bathroom this morning. Honestly, you have to know when to take your time and when to do it quickly.”

Scorpius, or rather Albus, gasped, astounded. He went bright red again in mortification.

“I didn't--” he stuttered, “I was not, I wouldn't!”

He turned to the boy next to him in desperation. He raised an eyebrow in response.

“We were just taking a long time to get here,” he said.

“Yeah, because you wouldn't stop gawking at everything,” Brice muttered, turning his attention to Scorpius again. “You just woke up and decided you love everything about this school.”

“Well, everyday’s an adventure when your living here,” Scorpius shrugged, a smile blooming on his face as he surveyed the large classroom of carved wooden desks and students performing spells that turned their dove feathers into dove eggs. “Living here… in Hogwarts.”

Brice paused.

“Was this building what you were jacking off to?”

“No!”

“Shh!” A girl in Slytherin hissed from behind him and they lowered their voices.

“Brice, stop embarrassing Albus for no reason. You're both to blame if you're late again,” the Ravenclaw boy sighed. “And you have to stop it, if not you'll definitely fail your NEWTs this year.”

Scorpius inhaled sharply. If he was learning about NEWT level standard Transfiguration in Albus’ seventh year when he was only a fifth year and doing OWL standard, it finally dawned on him that this lesson (and the rest of the lessons he had today) was going to be quite difficult. Even if he was considered one of the top students at WSG.

“Well, we're sorry, Easton,” Brice continued, huffing. “But let it go.”

“Not until you both take your classes more seriously,” the Ravenclaw boy replied.

“So your Mr. Easton,” Scorpius marvelled, thinking back to how Brice mention him earlier. 

“Mr?” Easton blushed, but a smile blessed his face. “You don't have to go that far.”

But Scorpius could tell he was obviously liking the sound of _‘Mr’._

~~~

Scorpius was late to lunch. For starters, he had no clue where the Great Hall was, and Brice had gone another direction to flirt with a few girls in Hufflepuff. He told him he would catch up with him later. Little did Brice know that Scorpius started to panic as soon as his friends left him. He had _no_ clue where he was going. He started to ask a few ghosts, who looked at him weirdly. He also spent most of it marvelling at the castle until he bumped into a younger student. A girl in Gryffindor, with long, fiery red hair.

“Ow, Albus watch it!” She sniffed, glaring at him.

“You know me?” He blurted, and then mentally beat himself up over it. Of course _he_ wouldn't know anyways.

“Stop being dumb, what are you doing?” She asked frankly, crossing her arms and staring at Scorpius suspiciously. Scorpius felt a bit of panic, because he got the sense she immediately knew something was up with him. 

“Um… admiring the architecture of this castle?” He said slowly, trying for a winning smile but knowing it turned out more like a cringe.

The girl in front of him rolled her eyes and sighed. 

“Listen, you have to write back to mum and dad. They keep asking about you, and you best do it quickly, if not mum might come storming down the school herself and shake your oppressed love and affection out of you herself. She never liked sending Howlers, but she will if push comes to shove, so you better be ready.”

_Mum and Dad?_ He couldn't believe it, he had a little sister! Oh, he's always wanted a sibling. And if he was honest, he wouldn't mind if he could actually meet war hero and ex-Quidditch star Ginny Weasley. The honour would be too great for words.

“And you also should write to James. We both know I'm his favourite sibling, but you haven't written to him in _ages_, and I really don't want history to repeat itself. You know, both of you splitting apart because of lack of communication. Honestly, you boys.”

She rolled her eyes again exasperatedly. Scorpius was relishing in the fact that had an older brother too. Which he should've known, since he was literally the child of the biggest celebrity of wizarding kind.

“I'll do that…” he said, trying to remember what Ginny and Harry Potter’s daughter’s name was. 

“Lily!” A Gryffindor girl with braided hair called to her. “Come on, we’re late to lunch!”

“Coming!” His sister called, and then hurried off with her friend. Scorpius decided to follow them to the Great Hall. 

And once he arrived, he couldn't figure why or how he had missed it before. 

It was literally in the centre of the massive entrance to Hogwarts. The ceiling reflected the sky, light blue with daylight, but also depicted all the constellations and stars hidden within the sun’s light. Candles floated above them, burning and filling the vast hall with more spontaneous light. How the candle wax wasn't dripping, Scorpius had no idea. There were four long, vast tables before him too. One for each house. Each piled with mouth-watering meals that could compete with his House Elf’s meals. The teachers ate at the back, on higher dining tables. 

Scorpius beamed. This day was just getting better and better.

He caught sight of Easton on the Ravenclaw table, eating quietly. He shuffled over to him, and before he knew it, he plopped himself comfortably next to his Ravenclaw friend.

“Hello Easton,” he greeted, beaming at him.

Easton, on the other hand, looked quite alerted.

“What are you doing here?” He hissed, staring around at the people situated at the table.

“Um, sitting? Talking to you? About to eat?” Scorpius tried, glancing nervously around at the others, and they were all staring back at him. Some snickered. Some whispered to their companions next to them. Others just looked at him confused. Scorpius looked right on, confused too.

“Go back to the Slytherin table before a teacher sees you!” He whispered frantically.

“But I want to sit with you,” Scorpius protested, and he could hear the other Ravenclaw students giggle around him.

Easton blushed and looked away. Scorpius figured he probably should listen to him. He _was_ a Hogwarts student after all. So he got up and told Easton he might see him later and made his way to the table down the end with students wearing silver and green ties. Brice was just finishing up his lunch.

“Where have you been, Albus?” Brice asked him, mouth full of roast pork. “I mean, I know I sometimes take a while to flirt, but that's all the reason you should be here before me.”

“Um,” Scorpius stammered dumbly, “I got lost.”

_“You got lost,”_ Brice repeated. “How?”

Scorpius wished he wasn't such a bad liar, because if he wasn't, he probably could have come up with a better excuse.

“Uh, well, a girl--” he started.

“A _girl?!_”

“Um, a gal!”

“What..?”

“I mean…”

“Are you feeling--”

“A guy.”

Brice just stared at him patiently.

_Merlin, save me from this mortification._

“The school,” he started slowly. “You know, guys just wanna have fun! Especially us Potters. Everyday’s an adventure when you live here. At Hogwarts. As a Potter...”

He trailed off awkwardly.

“Whatever mate,” Brice said as Scorpius slowly started on some jam tarts. “You sound funny by the way. Why are you talking so poshly? And you still didn't tell me when you learnt Spanish.”

Scorpius blushed, and started stuttering again, to the point where Brice started to laugh.

“Just hurry up with your lunch, okay?” He told him. “We don't want to be late for Quidditch.”

The breath got knocked out of him and his heart stopped for a split second.

“Pardon?” He breathed out, his eyes lighting up with excitement. 

Brice backed away nervously.

“Did you just say _Quidditch?_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like Scorpius is getting what he wants! Even if he had to do that (embarrassing?) dance. They all play a part later in the story, but anyways, congrats! You've got through most of the boring stuff. 
> 
> Next chapter, Scorpius plays Quidditch for the first time!


	5. Soft Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius has never played Quidditch in his life, but now he finally gets a chance to. And it's at Hogwarts, for starters! But what may seem like a euphoric dream can turn dark and stressful quite fast. Flying is harder than it looks…

The field was brilliant. Vast green grass covered the lawn, the stadium so tall Scorpius had to squint to look at the top, and it could probably occupy Watson’s Society for the Gifted easily, and their whole extended families. The Quidditch hoops stretched up so high that it made Scorpius dizzy just looking up at them. He hadn't been to a Quidditch game since he was six years old, and even then he was lucky to go. The Quidditch World Cup had been great, and his mother was also feeling healthy enough to leave the Manor that day. The family outing was everything he could imagine and more, even with some rude strangers calling them out on some nasty rumours. Scorpius didn't personally barrack for any other team either, he just loved to watch them. The aftermath of the outing hadn't been too good, since it was more content to fuel the Prophet, and they didn't go out again, but Scorpius still cherished the day. 

And he was cherishing this one just as much.

Because now _he_ was the one holding the broom. And _he_ was the one in the Quidditch uniform. The same uniform his father was in when he was Albus’ age (not technically, but the same as in representing the same team, possibly the same size, or else very different). Scorpius always wanted to learn how to play this sport, and now he'd actually get a chance!

He was versing the Gryffindor team. Apparently they were the hardest.

But not with Scorpius Malfoy as their star chaser!

The crowd was absolutely crazy. It was hard to hear the commentator over all the chants and cheering. Their excitement pulsed through Scorpius, radiating absolute adoration on the pitch. Scorpius Malfoy was being cheered for for once in his life. And not judged or booed (well, not yet anyways). Scorpius beamed, never wanting this dream to be over.

“Slytherin team, huddle up!” A girl’s voice called from behind him.

He turned around to see a girl with dark skin, striking light green eyes, a black hijab (magically spelled in place) and dark red lipstick crossing her arms at them. Everyone on his team followed her orders, so Scorpius could only assume she was the Captain.

“Ok guys,” she said as softly as she could with the rowdy crowd in the background, so she wasn't actually soft at all. Scorpius could also detect some sort of accent mixed in her voice, but it wasn't heavy enough for him to figure out if it was Malaysian, Indonesian, or even Indian. “There's not much we can do here, but give it our all. Stevens and Dowry, don't try to deflect any of Matt West’s bludgers. He's got way too much force behind them, you'll break your bats. Try to aim the bludgers at him, he's pretty slow at moving, the bulky giant.”

The team snickered, and Brice and another brunette boy said “Yes, Captain.” 

So they were the Beaters.

“Henry, try to deflect as much quaffles as you can. Watch out for Granger-Weasley. She's a beast on the pitch, and she moves as quick as the snake she is. No offence, Potter,” she instructed to a girl (who must've been the Keeper), but then ended with an apologetic glance at Scorpius.

Scorpius didn't respond, because he didn't know whether Albus would be offended. If someone had insulted his non-existent cousin, then he probably would be a bit taken aback, but he didn't know how Albus would react. Anything he did today, he did wrong, so maybe it was best to keep his face as blank as possible, and keep his mouth shut.

His new technique worked for him too, because his Captain didn't wait for a reaction.

“Davis, I won't repeat myself again, _stay on Potter._ Don't lose her like last time. You only have to pay attention to four things on the pitch, three if you stick to her closely. Potter, the snitch, the score, and possibly the bludgers. If you're close to her, the Gryffindors may not risk it, okay?”

Davis must've been the Seeker, because he looked sheepish. They must've lost because of his sister, who must've been the Seeker on the other team.

“Did your sister leak anything to you about what Gryffindor’s game plan may be?” The Captain asked Scorpius.

Scorpius shook his head dumbly, and the Captain cursed.

“Typical,” she scowled, then pointed at Scorpius and another girl who was incredibly tall. “Potter, Kolin, you two and I have to score as much points as possible. We have to sneak past Gryffindor’s defences and, if you can, try to gain hold of a quaffle at the same time with someone else, so you can score at the same time. This will make it hard for McClain to block.”

Scorpius had no clue what was going on, which probably wasn't a good sign.

“And Potter,” the Captain called with a smirk. “Don't get distracted by Melanie Joseph again.”

The team whistled and cooed, and Scorpius’ face heated, though he had no clue why. He didn't even know who Melanie Joseph was.

However, with that the team split up into a line, and faced the Gryffindors, who smirked at them playfully. As Scorpius scanned the team, he spotted his sister who he'd talk to earlier today, and she winked at him mischievously. Scorpius offered her a small, timid smile in return. His eyes also spotted a very pretty brunette girl, with hair that looked so soft he wanted to reach out and touch it. He looked around, and all the male Quidditch players (with the exception of one of the girls from Gryffindor), both Slytherin and Gryffindor, staring at her longingly, though the girl seemed oblivious. Another Gryffindor player death stared at him, and Scorpius gulped. The guy was bulky and tall, and looked like he could probably eat him. He must've been this Matt West guy. 

Matt then flashed a look at the brunette heartthrob, and grinned evilly.

“And Slytherin Captain, Paige Hasan and Gryffindor Captain, Rose Granger-Weasley are now shaking hands!” The commentator announced. “The game will commence shortly.”

Scorpius wouldn't call it a ‘handshake’. It was probably more of a grip test in his eyes. The two Captains locked their hands in a tight position, each girl smiling maliciously at the other. The Quidditch referee, or the Flying teacher, came to announce some quick rules that left Scorpius’ mind racing with questions, but before he could ask any of them, both teams hopped on their brooms and took to the air, leaving Scorpius behind.

Scorpius went to join them, but his broom wouldn't budge.

“Oh, looks like Potter is having trouble with his broom, everyone!” The commentator marvelled, and the crowd burst into laughter of mockery. Especially the Gryffindor's.

Well, this was Scorpius’ first time flying in years, so he was a bit rusty. He just had to concentrate. Not concentrate on the booing crowd that was quick to turn on him. Not concentrate on Brice’s worried looks. Or his sister’s yells for the crowd to shut up. Or his Captain face-palming herself. Or snickering Matt West.

He thought about the day he and his parents went to see the Quidditch World Cup, and how he lived the sport that day, though he didn't quite know what was happening. He thought about how cool and confident the players were, and how he wanted to reflect them.

And now his broom flew up to his hand, and he was flying!

“I'm flying!” He exclaimed dumbly.

“About time, Al! Get to your post so the game can start!” Scolded the Gryffindor Captain, Rose, with tied curly hair and a bossy tone. Scorpius wondered again, if Albus and his cousin were close.

He flew over to where Paige indicated for him to be.

The whistle blew and the whole pitch erupted in zipping people, wild cheers, and one frozen player. Take a wild guess who that was.

“Okay,” Scorpius said, looking around for the quaffle. “What should I--?”

“Albus, watch it!” Brice yelled.

Scorpius just caught sight of the black bludger, flying straight to him, and knew this was how he was going to die.

But then Brice, his hero, zipped in and deflected it with his bat. Before Scorpius could thank him, Brice gave him an annoyed glare.

“What's wrong with you? Get your head in the game!” 

And he flew off without anything else.

Turns out, Quidditch was absolute hell.

Catching the quaffle when it was flying at you at a million miles an hour was a tricky task by itself, and it didn't help that Scorpius’ sweaty hands couldn't probably grasp the thing. The crowd didn't miss it, they chanted “BUTTER FINGERS! POTTER HAS BUTTER FINGERS!” That made him feel totally jolly. It was also quite difficult to dodge bludgers and other players, all the while trying to do all of this strategically. It was making his mind explode. 

“Albus!” He heard Paige’s voice yell somewhere behind him as he was flailing awkwardly in the air.

He managed to spare a glance behind him, and he saw Paige zipping past the Gryffindor players like a true natural. Her skill surprised even Scorpius, and then he really understood how Paige was their captain. This girl could play.

“Albus, formation Cheshire!” She yelled at him.

_Uh oh,_ Scorpius cringed. _I have no sodding clue what on earth that's supposed to mean._

He managed to make his broom fly up somewhere, trying to get a clear shot for Paige to toss the quaffle over, even though he was secretly dreading it. He tried to look cool and confident, but it was hard when the Gryffindor spectators were laughing at him for his poor Quidditch skills, and even the commentator was taking the piss. 

Paige looked up at him in absolute confusion, and he knew he had done the wrong thing. He was about to make his way down again when his cousin, Rose, started zooming right at her. Paige had no choice but to pass it to him. Which turned out to be a fatal mistake anyway.

Scorpius caught it, and it didn't slip from his fingers, so he took that as a good sign, but then the whole pitch, and spectators, had their eyes on him. Just him. And he felt himself tremble.

And just like that, the whole Gryffindor team launched at him.

“Albus, fly!” He heard Brice yell.

So he did.

Adrenaline coursed through his body, and his “fight or flight” instinct took off. He felt he was near death, and could just feel the Gryffindors on his back, itching to steal the quaffle right off him. 

A bludger zoomed somewhere past him, and in his peripheral vision he could see Albus’ sister and Davis neck on neck, flying around the pitch. The snitch must've been nearby, but that wasn't any of Scorpius’ concern.

He dodged an incoming Gryffindor player, and spotted the hoops coming towards him with impeccable speed. The Gryffindor keeper had her eyes trained on him. He grinned, he was going to make it. He extended his arm to throw, if he could just aim it into the left one, but try and feint to the right (he saw that's what a lot of Quidditch chasers did, and he didn't think a simple trick like that would work on her, but oh well).

Then suddenly a very pretty brunette girl on the Gryffindor team appeared in front of him.

“Sorry, Al, but I'll be taking that,” she chided as she single-handedly stole the quaffle from his grasp and in lightning speed, passed it to Rose, who shot a sly smirk at Paige.

The crowd started booing with profound resentment at Scorpius, who wanted to disappear. Or wake up. The quick turn of events that made his brilliant dream into a shakening nightmare took him off guard. Even the Slytherin spectators were booing! And the commentator wasn't giving him the benefit of the doubt one bit.

“Looks like Potter forgot how to Quidditch!” He guffawed.

Matt West whistled at him, and Scorpius’ heart filled with hope, that maybe he was going to give him some sort of reassurance. Gryffindors were the heroes, right?

“Looks like no matter how much you practise, you can never get Quidditch right,” Matt spat, and Scorpius winced. “Just give up and go back to being a squip.”

And then he gripped his bat harder and flew away, leaving Scorpius feeling personally attacked even though Matt didn't even mean to discourage him. He meant to discourage Albus.

Scorpius knew that when he woke up, he would feel a massive respect for Quidditch players. He didn't know if he ever wanted to play again after this embarrassment.

He also knew he would be respecting Albus too, even if he hadn't met him, it felt like he knew him more than he knew most of the people he met in his life. It was crazy how much you learn about a person just by living in their body for a day. And even if it was just a dream, it was very realistic.

Rose scored another point, and as Scorpius looked forlornly at the scores, he knew there was no chance of them winning, not even if Davis caught the snitch.

He turned to see Davis, posted hopelessly in the air near Lily, who's eyes were like a hawk’s. Davis looked miserable, probably because he was useless. He tried to distract Lily here and there, but she didn't buy it for a second.

When Davis found Scorpius observing them, he glared at him and yelled something he couldn't hear.

“Pardon?!” Scorpius yelled back.

“Get back in the game!” Davis yelled, gesturing towards what looked like a hell Scorpius would rather keep out of.

Rose and Paige were basically fighting over the quaffle. The screaming from both the Gryffindor and Slytherin fans was impalpable. Scorpius could hardly hear the commentator over all the noise, and the referee, who must've been the flying professor, was looking over it, ready to blow the whistle if there was any beginning of a mishap. The rest of the team was in their own mini game, blocking of bludgers, trying to score, diving out of harm's way. He even saw Brice and Matt in an aggressive argument that he didn't want to be in a ten foot radius of. 

The screaming from the spectators grew impossibly louder, and Scorpius thought his eardrums were about to bleed. Energy was high in the arena, but he couldn't understand why until his eyes landed on their defeated looking Slytherin Seeker, and Albus’ sister, who's red fiery hair flew in every direction from the changing winds, but her victorious smile didn't fade and her raised arm didn't fall. Clenched in the fist of her raised arm was the small, golden, glinting snitch. A treasure in itself to behold.

The Gryffindor team went wild and even Scorpius smiled as the whistle blew, though very faintly due to the screaming of the commentator over his Sonorus charm and the yelling of victory or defeat from the full stadium. 

“Ngentot jalang!” He heard Paige curse from his right. She massaged her temples as she wailed in defeat. “Jangan lagi! Saya tidak akan pernah mendengar akhir dari ini! Sialan sialan!”

Paige’s cursing made Scorpius feel bad. But if it was anything he had learnt from Brice, it was that he shouldn't respond in another language because that will stir up questions he wouldn't be able to answer. So he was going to pretend he didn't know Indonesian so he wouldn't set his captain off even more.

The players were all seeming to get what just happened, and stop. Smiles bloomed on every Gryffindor player’s face, and the Slytherins cursed. 

But one person couldn't tell that the game had stopped due to the noise.

And unfortunately, that person was Matt West.

He gripped his bat, gave a stink eye to Brice, who was distracted and vulnerable, and smashed the bludger right at him.

“Brice, watch it!” Scorpius screamed, flying towards them.

The good news: Scorpius’ warning did alert Brice at the last second. He picked up his bat and deflected the bludger away from him. It did break his bat from the shear force of Matt’s hits, but at least he didn't get hurt. 

The bad news: Brice didn't even look which way he deflected the bludger. And unfortunately, that bludger came straight for the pretty brunette who stole the quaffle from Scorpius. She was congratulating Rose, when the bludger knocked right on the shoulder, with a sickening crunch, and sent her flying right from her broom down towards the grass.

Everyone was in complete shock at first, even Matt, but within a second they were chasing after her. But Scorpius got to her first. Maybe because he was already flying to her rescue before she was even knocked off.

She yelled something, but he couldn't make out what she said. He couldn't make out what anyone else was saying. All he was focused on was saving her.

And alas, he got a hold of her slim body, and slowly decreased his speed. In no time he was holding the Gryffindor girl, bridal style. Her hazelnut eyes met his, and her soft brown hair was let loose and was now whipping around her pretty, flushed face from the wind. They didn't say anything just yet, they were only breathing deeply and observing each other. 

“And Albus Potter flies to Melanie Joseph’s rescue! Looks like he's following in the steps of his parents, earning himself an epic Quidditch romance!” The commentator exclaimed.

Scorpius then realised that the crowd was losing their minds, and all the Quidditch players were either smirking at him, laughing and clapping for him, or glowering in jealousy at him (including Matt West, which didn't make sense since he technically was the one who put this into play).

“Are you alright?” He asked Melanie Joseph.

She offered him a weary smile.

“Yeah, I’m--”

Then she moved a bit and winced, and Scorpius thought of the crunch he heard and thought she may of been bruised or even _fractured_ by the bludger since it hit her stomach. What if her ribs were damaged?!

“I'll put you down now,” he told her, and flew to the end of the Quidditch pitch.

He flew steadily down near the changing rooms, and his determination subsided a bit once he realised how hard she was gripping onto him. He also realised that upon carrying her, he wasn't using any arms on his broom, which made him slow down even more due to the fear of _both_ of them falling. He figured someone must have her broom, but everyone was paying too much attention to what he was about to do then to think about that. Maybe Albus and Melanie were some power couple or something. Everyone else also all thought since he was Albus Potter that he had everything under control when it came down to flying. But Scorpius was also concentrating on not falling over too.

Thankfully, he got both of them down safely near the changing rooms, and they got to their feet. He propped her up and she stood shakily.

“Thanks so much, Al,” she sighed, her eyes gleaming with deep gratitude that made Scorpius’ cheeks heat. 

But he didn't let go of her. Not yet. She was still in pain and he knew he could fix it in an instant. But not here in front of everyone. 

“Come with me,” he said determinedly, pulling her off.

“Wait, Albus!” He heard one of his Quidditch teammates warn him, but he kept pushing through.

He pulled her to the changing rooms (a brash choice, he would come to realise upon looking back on it), and everyone went more wilder. Quidditch fans were weird.

Scorpius, who was innocent to his questionable action pulled Melanie Joseph in and shut the door behind her. Then he went over to his dumped school uniform and fished for his wand. He then turned it on Melanie and confidently said, “Lift your shirt up for me.”

“What?!” Melanie barked, her face turning incredibly red, incredibly fast. 

“You're hurt,” Scorpius protested, “and I can fix it really quickly.”

“Yeah, right,” she said sarcastically, crossing her arms around herself protectively, but her cheeks still bright red. “I think I'll just go see Mrs. Danels, thanks.”

_Finally,_ Scorpius got his innocent brain to realise what his actions must've entailed to her. And now his face was incredibly hot and he was waving his hands in the air incredulously because he was super nervous.

“It’s not like that!” He squealed, shaking his head vigorously. “I-I didn't--I would never--!”

He took a breather. Melanie was staring at him curiously.

“I just know a few spells that can heal bruises really quickly. But I don't know what kind of bruise you have so I don't know what spell to perform, or else I would just have you point to where it is,” he explained, finally gathering enough courage to meet Melanie’s gaze. “You can see the healer if you want, but I can do it now. You only have to lift it up a bit.”

She lulled the thought over in her mind, and Scorpius could practically see the gears working in her mind. He was about to tell her that it might not be that serious and if she felt safer, she could just go see the nurse and he'd leave her alone, but then she nodded, dropped her robe and lifted her uniform up to reveal a dark purple bruise that stretched along her pale stomach. Scorpius came closer to it as he observed it. It looked quite tender and painful, but Scorpius didn't think there was any internal damage. Not from the looks of it. A healing cream could do it, with lots of _Catarice Herb_ in it, but that may take a few days. It looked like it needed more than an _Episkey_ too.

“_Tiaxto!_” He said confidently, pointing his wand at the bewildered girl.

Immediately her dark bruise began to soften in colour and fade.

“Hold on, this won't take long,” he told her, but she was hardly listening.

“Woah,” she murmured, looking at her fully healed skin in wonder. “Albus, I didn't think you were such a prodigy at this.”

As her eyes met his, they shimmered with gratitude and something else. Something that made Scorpius blush profusely.

“Ta da!” He exclaimed nervously, raising his hands a bit. He then put them down suddenly, realising he was probably just embarrassing himself. He was glad Cole wasn't here to see that.

“By the way,” Melanie carried on, “I want to apologise for distracting you on the pitch. That was really snakey, but Rose told me to do that because she figures you like--”

She stopped abruptly, her cheeks flaming.

“Anyway,” she added hastily, her eyes avoiding Scorpius’. “Thanks so much for the healing and the saving and not attacking Matt and… everything.”

Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

“Attacking Matt?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, “I heard last time didn't turn out so great for you, and that you had to have detention in the Hospital Wing because you were hexed so bad. Is it true?”

Scorpius nodded dumbly, even though he had no clue.

“To be honest,” she said, stepping closer to him, “well, I was worried about you. You aren't that strong, but you're quick to pick a fight if need be.”

Scorpius’ eyes widened, which confirmed that he was probably the opposite of Albus. Melanie saw his surprise, and let out an amused giggle.

“I like you better today,” she decided, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear and smiling playfully up at him. “You've got a soft side. Who would've guessed?”

~~~

When they exited the changing rooms, no one was left in the Quidditch stadium anymore. Only a few spectators who wouldn't make eye contact with them, but whispered to each other with sly smirks on their faces. Scorpius knew enough to know they were gossiping about him and Melanie.

They walked across the grounds and back to the school, conversing all the while. Scorpius was pretty proud of himself, making Albus a new friend. It was a great feeling (even though he did sort of embarrass Albus in front of the whole school, before, but he decided not to focus on that part).

Melanie also shared a little light on the ‘Matt West Incident’, as people called it. Apparently he had called Brice a racial slur, and Albus had attacked him right on the pitch, even when Matt was holding his bat, broom, and a wand. It turned out that Albus got pretty knocked up, and had to serve detentions since he technically started the fight, but Scorpius couldn't help but feel amazed.

Scorpius knew he could never do what Albus had done. It wasn't hard to say that Scorpius didn't stand up for himself, and had a hard time arguing back let alone _fighting_. And Matt West was absolutely _terrifying_. Scorpius could never picture himself picking a fight with him.

But Albus had, and Scorpius felt a new kind of admiration for him. Albus must have a heart of gold, standing up for his friend like that. Scorpius could respect that. At least he was dreaming as a good person, and not a bully like Matt West.

He reached the Great Hall where most people were already leaving and heading up for bed. He ate as much as he could, relishing in Hogwarts delicacies. 

After, he went down to the Slytherin Common Room, though it was hard to find the dungeons since the grounds were so big. By the time he did stumble across the portrait, he had no clue what this “password” the portrait asked for was, so he had to stand outside waiting for a fellow Slytherin to enter, and by the time _that_ happened, it was late, and everyone was settling in for the night.

As Scorpius entered the dim place, and trudged up the stairs to his dorm, he couldn't help but feel weird about the whole day. It was expected, when you were dreaming as another person, but the whole weirdness didn't really kick in until he entered his dorm and made to the bathroom, Brice calling out sleepily behind him (“You finally got some action, huh? C’mon mate, was she good?!”).

He changed into what he assumed was Albus’ pyjamas and went to rinse his face. He then stopped short to study himself again. 

Emerald green eyes. Unruly, tight curls of black hair. Freckles washed over his nose and cheek.

This was all just so _weird._ And Scorpius has had weird dreams before, but none this detailed, none this long, and none this vivid. And every time he did have a dream, and became aware that it was a dream, he would wake up. But Scorpius had been self-aware since the day started, and it had been hours since then. Now that he thought about it, none of this made any sense. 

Maybe it was some sort of Divination thing (oh boy, how his divination professor would _love_ this)? But whatever it was, it didn't explain how realistic this was. Why it was so detailed. Why he had to know of Albus’ character, or meet his sister and cousin, and converse with his mates, and talk to his crush. It didn't explain why he looked so familiar, and how everything felt somewhat nostalgic even though he'd never met Albus, never been to Hogwarts, and had just experienced everything he did for the very first time.

All of this thinking unsettled him.

He touched his face, or Albus’ face, peering into the mirror as if that would give him more answers.

“This dream sure does seem real,” he murmured out loud to himself.

Then he turned away. He realised he had to know more about Albus.

~~~

Thankfully when he walked out of the bathroom, all the boys were asleep. He probably didn't know what he would do if Brice had started asking questions about Melanie.

He tip-toed over to Albus’ trunk, and was about to start aimlessly digging for something, but then he felt too guilty to do it. It was a breach of privacy, and even if it was a dream, Scorpius thought that would be too rude on his part. So instead he just surveyed what was around him. He noticed a bunch of letters, a feathered quill and inkwell, and a yellow journal on Albus’ bedside table. Scorpius decided to settle for those, even if he still felt a bit bad.

He looked at the letters, and most of them started out addressing his parents, and Scorpius remembered what Lily had said to him earlier that day.

_Listen, you have to write back to mum and dad. They keep asking about you, and you best do it quickly, if not mum might come storming down to Hogwarts and shake the oppressed love and affection out of you herself._

Scorpius gulped. As cool as it would be meeting the famous ex-Quidditch star Ginny Potter, he didn't fancy getting his love and affection shaken out of him. So he casts a _Lumos_ with his wand so he could see, flipped through Albus’ drafts, but then he realised he had no clue what to write. He settled on the game, but then he saw a letter that caught his eye.

It wasn't addressed to his parents, it was addressed to Melanie.

Scorpius felt horrible, but his curiosity won over his moral construct, and he picked up the crumpled draft and read through Albus’ messy but somewhat familiar handwriting (where had he seen this handwriting before?).

_Dear Mel,_

_I’m sorry for punching Matt in the face. I know he's your teammate and classmate but he's a jerk, so I punched him. So actually I'm not sorry about that exactly, but I’m sorry you had to see it._

_Anyway, I know it's not really my ‘thing’ to be all smitten and a gentleman or whatever, but I think you're really cool and it would be great if we could hang out sometime. Just the two of us. Only if that's okay. Maybe we can bring some friends too or something._

_From Al._

_P.S. I'm writing to you like this because I'm way too scared to say this to your face in front of your Gryffindor friends. No doubt my cousin will be there and I really rather her not to criticise me on this in front of you. Thanks for understanding, I guess._

The letter was so crumpled, the ink was smeared and there was a large tear in the letter, so Scorpius assumed Albus lost his nerve and discarded his confession. But, Scorpius thought this was the most adorable confession he'd ever read, and something in him swelled with affection.

“Unrequited love?” He giggled, reading it over.

He wanted to help Albus be happy with Melanie. He _did_ have a crush on her, so it wasn't just his mates teasing him. So maybe, even by accident, he helped Albus get a step closer to her. She liked him being ‘soft,’ but how could he tell him that's how he should be with her?

His eyes drifted towards his journal, and he beamed.

He took it, and briefly saw Albus’ handwriting scribbled on the pages. He didn't read them, because he felt he had already stuck his nose in deep enough with Albus’ personal life. He flipped to a new page and took Albus’ inked quill and started to write. 

_A horrible loss during the Quidditch match, but a great victory with one Melanie Joseph! Saved her from a wayward bludger, healed her and walked her back to the castle grounds, thanks to my soft side!_

He smiled in remembrance of it all, even if Albus’ handwriting wasn't like Scorpius’ at all, it would do--

_Who are you?_

It hit Scorpius like a wave. A wave of realisation.

_Who are you?_

He knew he had seen Albus’ handwriting somewhere! But how…? 

_Who are you?_

Was it possible… that whilst Scorpius was in Albus’ body, that Albus was in… 

_Who are you?_

No! Of course not. Even the world of magic had its own boundaries. And swapping bodies was too odd of fate, and wasn't possible by the law of it. 

Still… 

He took Albus’ quill and wrote his name on his palm.

_Scorpius._

He was Scorpius. And at least that put him to ease a bit. If this all was a dream, it didn't really matter what he wrote on whose palm.

He let out a huge yawn, and the exhaustion of the busy and exciting day finally settled upon him.

About time he did get some sleep, even if he didn't want his dream to end. He wished so badly to live at Hogwarts (and also wished to learn more about this interesting fellow he was), but the day, or dream, was the best he was ever going to get. 

And Scorpius was grateful. He was very grateful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a hc that Scorpius is quite good at languages, and remembers stuff really easy. That being said, I think him being as inquisitive as he is would make him pick up languages easily. Wish I was like that!
> 
> Thank you for reading and sorry for not uploading in a while! I promise I haven't forgotten about this fic, it's just taking a backseat at the moment… 
> 
> Next chapter you get a slice of Albus’ life and perspective ;)


	6. The Realisation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone around Albus is acting extremely weird today. From Brice’s constant teasing, Matt’s aggressive glares, Melanie’s (and Easton’s) flirting, and Paige’s anger, Albus has reason to believe that whatever happened the day before, wasn’t him. 
> 
> Meanwhile, Scorpius is drawing the same conclusions…

“What is this?” 

Albus stared at his open palm marked by ink, with handwriting that wasn't his own.

_Scorpius._

That's what it said. But he had no clue who this person was and who wrote on his hand. 

Then his eyes found his journal, and the curvy, neat handwriting stood out from his normally messy notes like a fish out of water. Albus also realised it was the same handwriting as the person who wrote that name on his palm. He picked it up and briefly read over it.

_A horrible loss during the Quidditch match, but a great victory with one Melanie Joseph! Saved her from a wayward bludger, healed her and walked her back to the castle grounds, thanks to my soft side!_

“What the bloody hell is going on?!” Albus muttered, rubbing his temples. It was too early for this shit. Brice was probably messing with him, but he wasn't going to let him.

Albus got up to get ready for the day ahead of him. He proceeded to wash up in the bathroom, after Eiji had come out. That was the moment when Brice came stomping after him until he was face-to-face with Albus. And the way he was looking at him made Albus feel extremely uncomfortable. 

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Brice demanded, narrowing his eyes as Albus gaped in utter confusion. “¡Todavía no me has dicho cómo sabes español! ¡Y todavía no me has dicho lo que pasó entre Mel y tú! ¿Por qué estuviste fuera tanto tiempo? Ustedes dos estaban completamente desaparecidos durante la cena. ¿Es porque ustedes dos estuvieron follando por horas? Porque si es así, creo que Easton tendrá un derrame cerebral--”

“Brice!” Albus interrupted. “I have no idea what you're saying! How many times do I have to remind you I'm not bilingual?”

“Then what was all that fluent Spanish yesterday morning, huh?” He said, pointing an accusing finger at Albus.

“I don't know what you're talking about!” Albus exclaimed.

Brice groaned and ran a hand over his buzz cut, clearly irritated.

“Fine, then what happened with you and Mel?”

Albus was even more confused, but he felt his cheeks did warm up more.

“What in Merlin’s beard are you talking about?”

Brice laughed in mockery, but then stopped abruptly.

“Wow! Best mates for all these years, and now suddenly you keep all these secrets from me? After I tell you all the adventures I've had with my lady friends–”

“Brice, I seriously have no clue what your on about!”

“The Quidditch game? How you played like you've never been on a broom before in your life, how we lost thanks to your shoddy skills, how Matt tried to hit me and then I accidentally hit Mel off her broom and then you saved her and dragged her to the changing rooms in front of everyone and shagged her until nightfall–?”

“Whoa! Stop! You hit her off her what? I don't– are you– you're such a sick bastard, Brice!” Albus stuttered angrily, his face red with rage and embarrassment. “I didn't shag anyone!”

Brice looked like he was about to respond when Eiji slammed his trunk down loudly and said, “Oi! You two are going to miss breakfast again if you keep bickering!”

Miss breakfast? He was about to ask, but if Eiji was right… well. If it was anything Brice and Albus could agree on, it was food. So they hurried down to eat the delicious delicacies Hogwarts had to offer, and they had stuffed themselves silly (Albus felt more hungry than usual). However, Albus didn't fail to notice all the eyes that stared at him. Had he done something? Why were those girls over there giggling to each other and shooting weird glances at him? Why were those boys whistling at him? Why was Matt West glaring extra hard at him? 

But breakfast ended soon enough, and then they were joined by Easton.

“What do you have now?” Easton asked.

“I’ve got Care for Magical Creatures and Potions,” Brice said.

“And we have Astronomy together and then Potions,” Albus said to Easton, but he already knew that Easton knew.

So both of them started to make their way to the Astronomy tower when Brice called, “I see you don't need me to lead the way today. You know, just in case you get lost!”

Brice snickered and walked away, leaving Albus even more muddled in the mind.

“Easton, Brice is being so weird today,” he said, hoping he wasn't the only one who thought that.

Easton sighed, as if he was disappointed.

“What?” Albus asked, racking his brain to see if he said anything wrong.

“Nothing,” he pouted, but then broke into a mischievous grin that didn't sit well with Al. “It's just, I really liked it when you referred to me as ‘Mr’ yesterday. That was truly adorable.”

Albus gave him a blank look. 

Were they just messing with him? Sometimes they did that, but it was mostly him and Easton teaming up to mess with Brice, since he was the dim one. But sometimes they liked to mess with Al, however, that was normally when Albus had done something wrong. But what had he done? What were they playing at? Were they just trying to get him paranoid?

“Wait a second, was that you and Brice?” He said accusingly at Easton. “Were you two the ones who were messing with my journal?”

Easton stared blankly at him, but then badly suppressed a laugh.

“You have a journal?” He snickered, which made Albus’ face heat up in embarrassment. 

“Never mind,” he said gritting his teeth.

Astronomy was normal enough, to Albus’ relief. The class was quizzed on how many stars they knew, and Easton snapped out of his weird phase and got down to business again. Then they broke off into partners to discuss orbits and other things Albus only half-listened to. Not even the class could be bothered about discussing zodiac signs or their favourite constellation with the amount of homework that they had gotten. They seemed to be completing homework for more important classes (that included their NEWTs) slyly, so the Astronomy professor didn't see.

“What's the classification of a Bundimun again?” A Slytherin boy asked gruffly, doing his Care for Magical Creatures work.

“XXX,” a Ravenclaw girl with curly hair replied confidently. “Even though I think it should be classified XXXX. Have any of you actually seen what that thing can do to a house? My cousin found one of those things in his flat the other day, but by the time he uncovered it, it was too late…” she shuddered. “Let's just say that place is in ruins now. Rest in peace…”

She put her two palms together into a praying gesture and closed her eyes dramatically whilst the whole class burst with questions.

“Seriously?”

“Wow, I've never even seen a Bundimun before!”

“That's so cool!”

“No, it's not cool!”

Albus rolled his eyes. Everyone had this misconception that Ravenclaw were all brains and nothing else. Well, they were very intelligent, they were also the weirdest people he had ever met, with major crackhead energy. And they believed in everything with the slightest possibility. So for the Smart People™, they were really quite dumb.

After Astronomy, Albus and Easton went their separate ways, and Albus met Brice and the rest of the Slytherins in year level for Potions. Potions was strenuous work enough, but the fact that he had with the Gryffindors too, and had to try not to sneer at Rose too much (if not she'll go whining to his Aunt Hermione in complaint), suffice to say he wasn't looking forward to it. But upon getting there, he realised Rose was the least of his problems.

Upon entering a bit early (a massive accomplishment, in Albus’ case), all the boys noticed Albus and immediately started glowering at him. Especially Matt West. Albus scowled back, though he didn't understand why everyone was especially salty with him today. He never liked Gryffindors, especially the guys, and they hated him right back, so Albus was normally used to them shooting him dirty looks. But this was odd, since it was so random. Albus hadn’t even insulted one of them in three weeks!

Then, the biggest heartthrob at Hogwarts strutted in: Melanie Joseph.

“Melanie Joseph reporting for duty! Don't slack off today everyone,” Melanie teased the whole class, who brightened up as soon as she had walked through the door. With her trademark gorgeous brown locks tied into a neat ponytail, sparkling doe-eyes and her beautiful smile that lit up those around her. Her personality was golden too. It was no wonder everyone was absolutely crazy for her. But then she did something absolutely unexpected.

She went over to sit beside Rose Granger-Weasley, who was looking at Albus sceptically, then she turned to look at Albus and her smile grew even wider. Albus could already feel his face heat up from all the stares he was getting.

“We’re going to have a great class today, aren't we, Al?” She giggled flirtatiously, tossing her hair.

And then she _winked._

Everyone knew Melanie Joseph was the girl who was off limits, and couldn't be won, but suddenly she was _flirting_ with _Albus_ out of the blue? When did this start?

Albus tried to ignore all the jealous reactions he was getting from everyone. One girl actually _growled_ at him, and Brice kept nudging him and gesturing at Mel annoyingly all throughout class. Not to mention how he could feel Paige’s hot, hard, unwavering glare from behind him. It would be an understatement if he described this experience uncomfortably awkward.

After Potions ended, Paige came storming up to him, her dyed red hair swishing behind her. If he was honest with himself, seeing her glaring and speed walking towards him like that, no other horrors could compare. 

“We have Quidditch practice today’” she said in a dangerously calm tone. 

Brice looked like he was about to protest, but Paige raised a hand to shut him up.

“No excuses. If we have any hope of winning the Quidditch cup, we have to know how to _not_ suck at the game.”

Then she pointed a stern finger at Albus.

“Got that, Potter? No flirting. No distractions. No dropping the quaffle. No getting caught in a crossfire. No saving damsels in distresses. No _being_ a damsel in distress, and for Merlin’s sake, just remember how to play!”

She then stormed off, leaving Albus in a gaping rage, and Brice a snickering mess.

“What the hell is she on?!” Albus yelled, offended.

“No, that's not the question,” Brice wheezed as Easton spotted them after coming out of the Arithmancy classroom, and walked towards them. “The question is, what the hell were _you_ on yesterday?”

“What are you on about?” Albus demanded, then threw his hands up in exaggeration. “What is anyone on about?”

_Why was everyone being so weird today?_

He sulked off to lunch moodily, not bothering to wait for Easton and Brice. The two boys shared an amused glance as Albus intercepted his sister who immediately started to tease him, which made him even more pissed off. 

“Well, it looks like he's back to normal today,” Brice observed in relief. “Thank Merlin.”

Easton avoided Brice’s eyes and blushed profusely.

“I don't know,” Easton admitted. “He seemed kind of… cute… yesterday.”

Brice shot him a confused glance, and then sighed dramatically.

“Everyone’s off their rockers today,” he shook his head.

Later, during Quidditch practice, everyone on the Slytherin team was happy to see Albus getting back into his groove, especially Paige, who kept grinning like a mad woman. They had their star Slytherin Chaser back, and everyone was more than pleased. 

After heading back for more classes, it was evident to everyone that Albus was back to being his normal self. But to Albus, the more the day progressed, the more worried he was getting about his memory loss from the day previous. He was contemplating seeing Mrs Chang in the Infirmary, but something was stopping him. Something told him that a regular memory potion won't cure him. He couldn't remember _one_ thing about yesterday. And upon waking up, he did feel as if something were missing. Or someone. 

Maybe he was going crazy, or maybe he was right. He didn't know which option he feared more. It might just be the stress of his upcoming NEWTs. 

~~~

But it was obvious it wasn't. 

For when Scorpius woke up that morning, the first thing he noticed was the marker that covered his arms in the scribbled handwriting he had seen before.

_Scorpius?_

_Who are you?_

_What are you???_

Scorpius blinked once. Twice. 

“Oh, Mr. Malfoy,” Ginger squeaked from his bedroom door. “I tried to knock but you looked a bit, um, zoned out. I see you're not shaking your mirror in confusion anymore.”

She gestured frantically over to his once shiny and spotless mirror that was now covered in fingerprints. Scorpius was put in more shock then he originally was in before.

“Anyways, breakfast is ready!” Ginger squeaked and hurried off before Scorpius could thank her.

~~~

Things didn't die down once Scorpius arrived at school. 

When he entered his Divination classroom, everyone stopped talking almost immediately and had their eyes trained on him. He didn't know what that might possibly entail, and he wasn't quite sure he _wanted_ to know, but he nervously made his way over to Lucy, who, for some reason, was smirking at him with pride. Cole was there too, and he started to clap. Why did he look like he was going to cry?

“Why is everyone staring at me?” He blurted to her unintentionally loudly, which made everyone have the courtesy to turn away and resume their original conversations.

Lucy’s smirk didn't leave her face.

“Well,” she started, “you _did_ kind of make a scene yesterday.”

“It was brilliant, mate,” Cole managed, wiping an unshed tear from his eye and beaming at him. “I mean, I wasn’t there, but I heard. I heard, alright.”

Scorpius’ jaw dropped in horror.

“What do you mean a _scene?_” He gasped, thinking of all the horrible ‘scenes’ that could've happened.

He tried to recall what had happened, and what exactly he did the day before, but it just didn't come to him.

It did, however, come to Albus.

~~~

Charms was one of Albus’ worst classes. He was hoping that, if he appeared in someone else’s body, especially if that certain someone else was supposed to be a top student in their studies, that they could share the same brain power and he could excel too. All hope was lost when he started his Charms lesson. Even if he was still doing average year five stuff, it was just his luck that OWL level Charms had been one of the subjects he struggled with most. It made his head hurt, as he tried to recall on techniques that worked for him whilst conjuring up the Substantive Charm. The results hadn't been so successful so far, thus the evil snickers from his classmates around him.

“Wow, Malfoy looks like he's having a hard time,” snickered a girl with braids and Asian descent. Her name was a really weird one that Albus didn't remember. Diamond? Emerald? _Sapphire or something?_

“Yeah, maybe it's because of that stupid dance he did a few days ago. He hasn't been the same since,” snickered the girl beside her who had dark, short red hair. That was Brooke or Bridget, something like that. 

Lucy, someone he found to be one of Scorpius’ friends, put a comforting hand on his tense shoulder. 

“Ignore them,” she muttered soothingly, though her face was creased with worry. “They're just picking on you because you're going to be the one with a future.”

Albus smirked. He liked ‘sweet-but-sassy’ Lucy.

So he did take Lucy’s advice, and did try to ignore their insolently loud gossiping across from him, that basically the whole class could hear. He avoided their eyes, because he was certain if he made eye contact with one of them (Albus had come to learn there were three of them, Sapphire, Bridget and another boy who Albus had no clue who he was) he was sure he would snap. And the guy he was, _Scorpius_, that is, didn't seem like the impatient type.

But then they proceeded with their bigotry.

“Have you seen the election posters for chairman this year?” Sapphire (or whatever she was named) murmured to her two other big-headed mates.

“Doesn't matter who wins, nothing will change,” said the scrawny boy who looked much too young to be anything but a second year. “Except for who gets the kick back.”

“Shh!” Bridget giggled (why was she always giggling at things that weren't funny?!), and then shot a mischievous glance at Albus, who glared right back. Then she turned to her friends and whispered not-so-subtly, “Somebody’s daddy is depending on it.”

The three giggled condescendingly. 

With one deadly calm glance at Lucy, who was cringing in pity, Albus, not quite caring if they heard, said, “They’re talking about me, right?”

They _must_ be. Why else would they be peering at him like that? Albus had seen that look on many faces at Hogwarts when he was first sorted into Slytherin, and he hated it. He hated that those three were being _so rude_ to Scorpius. Or maybe he just hated bullies in general.

When Lucy hesitantly nodded, Albus got out his wand, a smirk in place. Well, he wasn't sorted into Slytherin for nothing. 

“Wait, Scorpius?!” Lucy cried, alarmed at the sight of his wand. 

If it was _any_ spell Albus could do, it was hexes.

Albus murmured a hex under his breath, and suddenly, the table his three classmates were situated at (along with their notes, quills, ink, parchment, textbooks, and anything else littered on it) went soaring across the room and landed right near and empty space at the door, broken. Whilst the three were caught in shock (and so was the rest of the class), Albus slyly put his wand away again. 

The Charms Professor stood up immediately and looked at the class in shock. Her gaze fell on Sapphire, Bridget and the guy and she asked, “Who did that?”

Bridget stood with rage and pointed at Albus, who forced himself not to sneer. Half the class collectively gasped as Bridget did so.

“Scorpius did! I saw him! I saw!” She seethed.

“Yeah, and he also spilled my ink all over me!” Whined Sapphire.

Albus looked at the Charms Professor innocently, and shook his head.

“I don't know what she's talking about, Miss,” he said gently, aware that the other guy’s fist was curling into a ball.

_Good, get mad. Let yourself be your own downfall,_ Albus thought evilly. He hadn’t had this much fun in Charms ever! It felt amazing to taint Scorpius’ ‘good boy’ rep.

The Professor, probably because Scorpius was normally so soft and perceived to never hurt a fly, immediately believed Scorpius over the other three. He was a star student anyways, and she would be lying if her bias had nothing to with it. She nodded, and not any sooner did the guy jump up along beside his friends.

“He _did_ do it! It's because he got angry that we were making fun of his dad and that stupid dance he did!” He cried, and then upon realising what he did, slapped his hand over his mouth. Sapphire and Bridget were gaping at him.

Albus forced himself not to smirk. _I didn't even have to say a damn thing._

“You three were making fun of Scorpius?” The Professor asked sternly, and the trio winced.

The class seemed to be holding their breath, and Albus was skilfully suppressing a good laugh.

“Detention after school for the three of you, Pearl, Brooke and Kyran. It's a shame you have to pick on poor Scorpius,” the Professor sighed, leaving the three bullies seething in rage.

Lucy giggled. 

“Nice one, Scorp,” she whispered. “I didn't know you had that one in you. Wait until we tell Cole about this! I think he’ll sob with pride.”

And it wasn't just Lucy, the whole class seemed to be appraising him in a new light.

_That’s right,_ Albus thought, smirking at everyone. _As long as I'm here, Scorpius Malfoy is not going to be your submissive, innocent victim._

~~~

“I… I…” Scorpius stammered, clearly flustered. “I did what?”

Lucy and Cole just grinned at each other, especially when they saw Pearl, Kyran and Brooke glowering from the other side of the classroom.

But Scorpius was _not_ grinning.

The ‘dream’ he had before was still quite vivid in his mind, and he could still recall Melanie’s words…

_You aren't that strong, but you're quick to pick a fight if need be…_

He remembered Albus Potter’s note, or specifically, his handwriting…

_I know he's your teammate and classmate but he's a jerk, so I punched him. So actually I'm not sorry about that exactly…_

And the words on his hand this morning…

_Who are you? Scorpius? What are you?_

And he knew he had known that handwriting all along…

And he'd be damned if Albus Potter wasn't connecting the dots too.

His journal, his immaculate handwriting, his innocent, submissive ‘soft side’ that seemed to win Melanie over, and his amateur Quidditch skills the other day…

**Could this mean,** the two boys thought…

That me and Albus… pondered Scorpius…

_That me and Scorpius…_ considered Albus… 

**That we’re really…**

In my dreams Albus and I…

_Scorpius and I…_

**We’re switching places?!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being patient! No matter how long it takes for me to update, I promise I have not given up on this fic. I just have commitment issues :)
> 
> Next chapter, Albus and Scorpius communicate through each other, but they have to find where to draw the line when it comes down to privacy. But, would the two boys ever actually listen to one another?


	7. You’re Dreaming Right Now, Aren’t You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the next few weeks after, Albus and Scorpius must try to navigate their weird circumstances. It’s an incredibly intimate and private thing, to have someone have complete control over your body and actions, even if it’s only a few times a week. Albus and Scorpius try their best to maintain a somewhat normal relationship despite the weirdness, but that just doesn’t seem possible.

Scorpius and Albus were both finally seeming to realise what was happening to them.

Albus was in seventh year, and attending Hogwarts, which was why Scorpius found his work extraordinarily harder then his. Scorpius had incorrectly assumed that Hogwarts’ standards were just higher before, since he thought there was only one Potter child that was older than him, and not two. But he then realised he was the same age as Albus’ sister, Lily. It was odd, since he originally thought Lily was younger than him, but that must've been him feeling older since he was in a seventeen year old’s body. He decided not to question Albus about it specifically, since he probably read it in the Prophet somewhere. And Scorpius knew how miscalculated their information may come to be.

Scorpius was fifteen, and living out somewhere south of England, probably around Bristol or Southampton, but Albus wasn't exactly sure. Regarding Scorpius’ age, when Albus found he was two years younger than him, Albus felt embarrassed. He didn't know why, but he decided it was just because the standard school work Scorpius was doing seemed to suit him. That had to be it. Though he still found it odd that Scorpius was actually _younger_ than him, despite how geeky he seemed to be.

Two or three times a week, Albus and Scorpius would randomly switch bodies. After some creative communication through letters and messaging spells, Albus and Scorpius both came to the revelation that the trigger was sleep. Yet the cause still appeared to be unknown.

Scorpius and Albus wrote each other full letters on what they thought the cause would be. Albus wrote a halfhearted note about how boring and unspecial he was compared to the rest of his famous family, and summarising that anything or anyone who chose him to be some sort of trial run must either be absolutely regretting their decision and cringing in defeat, or laughing at how stupid Albus was being, messing up Scorpius’ life. Scorpius wrote a three page letter on descriptive research and theories of this topic in the past, about ancestral magic and bloodlines that Albus skimmed through briefly. Scorpius also concluded by reassuring Albus that he wasn't ruining Scorpius’ life, just leaving a few marks here and there (Albus knew that was Scorpius’ kind way of telling him to get his act together). But neither of them could draw actual conclusions as to why _they_ were swapping bodies. At first, they thought since Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter weren’t exactly on good terms in their childhood, it may have something to do with them. But all it took was a few suspicious and specific questions from Scorpius to Draco to rule that out. Harry Potter and Draco had not communicated in years, and although there was mutual distaste for the other man, it wasn’t anything too overboard. So the body-swapping seemed to be for no reason.

Any memories Albus and Scorpius had, after the switch, got more and more hazy after they woke up. But there was no doubt that they were switching places. The reactions of everyone around them proved it. Even though they hadn't told each other, the boys felt a bit panicked every time they forgot something that happened to them during the switch. 

Scorpius looked at it like this: his growing friendship with Albus wasn't just a normal friendship, and he couldn't shake the feeling they were paired together for a reason. It was so violating, having someone be you, live inside of you, look through you, but he also felt it was quite beautiful. Despite only knowing Albus for a few weeks, he already felt that he hadn't connected to a person more than him. Albus had to live as him, to embody him. He had to be friends with his friends, be the son and grandson to his father and grandmother, learn to deal with the wretched rumours about his parentage (which Albus solely refused to believe, thank Merlin). All the while Scorpius had to do the same back. And he felt he quite loved getting to know Albus day by day. They may have not met each other yet, but Scorpius felt he knew Albus better than he had known anyone. But Albus probably didn't feel the same. This was probably just Scorpius getting carried away again by his weird, romanticising outlook.

Little did he know, Albus did feel the exact same way, he just didn't have the emotionally reflective skills to truly acknowledge what he was feeling towards Scorpius. What he _did_ know was that the situation was very weird and unusual, and that Albus felt very weird and unusual about it.

But something both Scorpius and Albus agreed on was having boundaries. 

Surprisingly, even though Albus seemed to be the private and reclusive one, the idea was Scorpius’. 

_Who knows what would happen next in our weird relationship? What if it got ugly? What if it randomly stopped? What if one of us went overboard and got the other in really big trouble?! I don't think we would ever do that to each other, because I do trust you, and I hope you trust me too, but I do suppose there has to be some ground rules, to protect each other’s own way of life._

This is what Albus had woken up to on a Thursday. He felt a bit guilty, since he knew Scorpius didn't like causing scenes that made others look at him (which Albus could relate to somewhat), but when people started to make fun of Scorpius in front of his face, what else was he supposed to do? Sit there and let them make fun of his friend? So, fine, he stirred up some trouble, that had probably ruined Scorpius’ ‘goody two-shoes’ reputation, but Albus didn't really regret it. It wasn't his fault he felt as protective as he did over Scorpius. Scorpius was just the sort of person you got protective over!

But he had to agree. He probably would've felt a bit bitter too, if someone were putting more attention on him (Albus seriously didn't need that, and he knew that Scorpius didn't either). So there were limits.

Scorpius’ list mainly consisted of not getting aggressive towards his classmates (Albus huffed at that, but he saw that one coming), at least take down notes in class instead of nodding off (it wasn't Albus’ fault that the teachers at WSG had such soothing voices), no shaking the mirror in confusion (Albus blushed when he saw that, but he just couldn't stop looking at himself as Scorpius, it wasn't every day he looked so pretty), have manners when speaking to his grandmother (Albus wasn't aware he was being impolie) and to not break into any sweats when he had to come face-to-face with Draco Malfoy (the man was scarier in real life than in the stories his Uncle Ron had told him).

Albus’ list required of not interfering with Melanie Joseph (Scorpius rolled his eyes at that, since his wingmaning skills seemed to actually be working, Scorpius would think Albus would be a bit more grateful), not to speak any language to anyone except English (Scorpius agreed very much on that one), not to let Lily and/or Brice make fun of him and get away with it in front of people (not Scorpius’ fault that Albus’ sister was so radiant and Brice was so charming), make up a lame excuse every time Albus had Quidditch because apparently Scorpius’ Quidditch skills were just dreadful (Scorpius didn't think he was _that_ bad), and to stop making Easton fall in love with him (Scorpius had no clue what he was talking about).

They also decided to leave each other full reports of their day they had in their journals on the day they switch places, so they could work together to get through this weird thing that was happening to them. 

They were in this together.

And yet they could not believe each other.

Through the weeks that went by after that, Scorpius and Albus began to grow more accustomed to each other’s schedules, and weren't totally lost every day about what was happening around them.

But Scorpius was being way too enthusiastic about Albus’ life than Albus was, quite namely Hogwarts. He also didn't seem to be laying it easy on poor Easton, who still got flushy and flirty around Albus, who was quite uncomfortable with it, since it was Scorpius who Easton actually fancied. Then there was the fact that Scorpius also purposefully disregarded his first rule, which was to not interfere with his relationship with Melanie. Yet Scorpius was adamant on wanting to get Albus the girl. Albus didn't know if Scorpius actually fancied her, or if Scorpius’ ‘wingmanning’ was actually working, but it made Albus a bit mortified every time he talked with her still. 

Once he got so irritated by it, he decided to bring it up with Scorpius, quite frankly too. Scorpius replied with another huffed answer, saying he was disregarding his second requirement, which Albus didn't really know how to respond to because that _was_ true. Then Scorpius told Albus that if Albus didn't like Melanie romantically, Scorpius would stop, but if he did, Scorpius wanted to help Albus be happy. Albus didn't know how to respond to that either, because he didn't exactly know _how_ he felt. He liked Melanie’s face. And she had a good smile. It was a smile that Albus appreciated. And he liked the sound of her voice, and even sometimes when she looked at him he felt his hands go sweaty and his cheeks heat a bit, but he didn't know if he actually wanted to be with her. Scorpius said it was because he lacked confidence and feared rejection, and whilst that was true, Albus wondered if there was still more to his confusing feelings.

So on and on they went, bickering about stupid mistakes they did to one another, apologising for the bickering and the mistakes, and then bickering again. Yet there was never actual malice in it. Scorpius sort of loved it, someone he didn't have to be so pure and kind to. Albus secretly liked it too, since Scorpius was such an interesting person to argue with.

But then the same topic would come up again...

Had tea with Melanie at Hogsmeade today! Scorpius wrote in Albus’ journal one day, his mind still thinking about the amazing date in that gorgeous town area. 

Then he wrote: You two sure have a good thing going!

Surely Albus would be grateful.

But when Albus read it the next day, he hastily scrawled at the bottom of the page: _Quit messing with my relationships, Scorpius!_

Albus was truly mortified. For one thing, he wasn't sure he wanted to be in a relationship with Melanie, not when there were much more suitable guys chasing after her and his emotions seemed to be quite bland towards her. And he wanted Melanie to like him for _him_, not for Scorpius. Surely Scorpius could see that, couldn't he?

But Scorpius was already stressing about his own love life when some other girl started confessing her love for him. Some girl he didn't even know!

Hey, Al? Scorpius wrote in his notebook later that night. Why was there about five girls and two boys confessing their love for me today???

His reply was cocky and heavily infuriating.

_Maybe you're just more popular when I'm you._

Scorpius imagined Albus getting love letters and confessions as him everyday, and that vision made him extremely and concerningly frustrated. Here he was, trying to set up Albus with the girl of his dreams, which he wasn't even grateful for, and Albus was just mucking around here. He didn't want to be a heartbreaker! But it left him no choice when people he hardly knew started asking him out. 

You’re so full of yourself! Scorpius wrote back hotly. Like you have a girlfriend…

_Not like you have anyone either!_

**I don't because I don't want a relationship!**

~~~

“Mr Malfoy!” The frantic house elf squeaked. “Please stop tapping the mirror.”

Albus had just been tapping Scorpius’ bedroom mirror in wonder, and he knew he shouldn't, because Scorpius told him not to, but he couldn't help himself. One would assume Albus would be used to Scorpius’ attractive appearance after weeks of being him on and off, but there was definitely something about Scorpius that was way too captivating. Scorpius’ appearance made Albus’ throat go dry, and his cheeks go red. And Albus swore he would get to the bottom of it.

So he leaned closer to the mirror and tapped it again.

“Huh,” he said, addressing Ginger. “I think my eyes get prettier when I tap the glass, right?”

He turned to Ginger and gestured to his body. He was just in the process of getting changed for school, and he couldn't help but admire Scorpius’ physique whilst doing so. He felt weird about it, but he managed to convince himself that it was just him appreciating a good body. Nothing to be ashamed of. That's what he was telling himself, but he still felt somewhat guilty in the action. Like he was doing something wrong, that Scorpius wouldn’t appreciate. Or feeling something wrong.

“I'm not sure what you mean, sir,” Ginger replied.

“I mean,” Albus said, appraising himself, or rather, appraising Scorpius again, “this has got to be a beautifying mirror or something. Enchanted, right?”

Scorpius would probably never get himself something like that. Even though he was dramatic enough as it is, and Albus’ dad (and especially his uncle Ron) joked about how pretentious the Malfoys were. Plus, he doubted Scorpius was actually this _good-looking_ in real life. He looked good enough to be a model! Or an A-class, James-Sirius-level douchebag. Or both.

“Um, no sir, just a normal mirror, sir,” Ginger replied, getting more confused than timid (quite frankly, Albus had no idea she was capable of feeling anything more dominantly than shy).

“Oh, you can tell me the truth, Ginger,” he said, sighing dramatically. “You don't have to worry about me. My _big, sensitive Malfoy ego_ may not be able to handle it. But my overall innocence and golden optimism can get me through anything!” 

He then succumbed to laughter. Merlin, did he _love_ making fun of Scorpius’ dramatic dialogue. If Scorpius saw him now, he’d probably die of shame. Albus truly was a horrible person. 

Because of his indirect, cringeworthy act of mockery, Albus silently promised he would be extra good for Scorpius today.

Ginger just stood there, her small mouth open in a literal gape.

“It's… just… a mirror?” She said, and it took Albus a few seconds before he realised she was being totally serious. “And also, sir, your grandmother wants to meet you downstairs. And… it's a Sunday, sir. You don't have school…” she trailed off again, slightly registering that Albus was not really paying attention to her anymore. “Are you feeling okay, sir? You look a bit red.”

Albus was not laughing anymore. His face had gotten magnificently hot, up to his ears and neck, and he couldn't help dreading over the fact that he genuinely _really_ liked Scorpius’ appearance, and he's just that gorgeous! And he has an even more stunning personality? What in Merlin’s name?

He quickly turned back to the mirror, looking for any flaw on Scorpius that could make him feel better. He knew it was unfair to Scorpius, but it was also unfair that Scorpius could turn out so handsome, and no one had warned him about it! He did notice how striking Scorpius was on the first switch, but he was too freaked out to fully notice it.

He looked from his face and saw how red he was, his blush betraying him now that he had lighter skin. He supposed Scorpius was a bit too pale, and very tall (at least for him). But Albus didn't really have a problem with tall guys. He'd always wanted to be taller, so in a way he sort of envied Scorpius’ height.

Bah! There was just no winning! He wasn't sure about his weird, warm feelings he felt towards Scorpius’... above average… face and body, but he did know one thing: Scorpius was to never hear of this. Albus just cringed with the thought of how much leverage Scorpius would have over him if he found out how truly… nice-looking… he was. And he wonders why he gets so many love letters!

He turned to where Ginger was previously standing, hoping to tell her to never speak of this morning again so Scorpius were to never find out about all of it, but found she had already left. 

It took Albus a bit of time to remember he was supposed to meet Narcissa Malfoy downstairs.

~~~

“Over the course of the last few days the Tiamat Comet has been visible. But when and where can people see it?” The howler said in a pleasant voice once Albus made his way downstairs. 

He saw Narcissa peering at it at the breakfast table, with a scowl that Albus himself admired.

“The Tiamat Comet will be moving in the same direction the sun does, from east to west from our point of view, so right after sunset for all of you English folk. As for when it could be seen in other countries, feel free to contact our Astronomy community here at WSG for more information if you're interested…”

Albus wondered as the howler ended its message why he hadn't heard of this comet before in his Astronomy classes. If it was as big as WSG was making it out to be, he was sure he would've at least heard about it… but maybe it was just that he wasn't paying any attention during Astronomy. Yeah, that was probably it.

“There you are, Scorpius,” Narcissa said, surveying him with a scrutinising eye that made Albus want to cower.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she finally seemed to finish her criticising and nodded, seemingly pleased, and Albus felt himself let out a breath of relief. He didn't know what it was when it came down to old ladies, but he always wanted to impress them. Old ladies were his weakness.

“Come on, Scorpius, go get your things and come. Your father can't make it today, as he has a meeting with the Society board, but he sends his apologies. You do know how good he feels when he feels important,” she said, irritated as she pulled herself to her feet, and Albus was quick to her aid, ready to help her up but Narcissa swatted him away, annoyed. “Oh, I can stand up just fine on my own, thank you.”

“Um, what things do I get?” Albus said, dumbly. “And where are we going?”

Narcissa looked at him like he was a dog who didn't know any better and peed near her feet.

“Sometimes I do wonder when you read all those books, that all that content your stuffing into your brain actually makes you lose brain cells.”

Albus blinked, but kept himself from gaping.

“Your Draught of Time, silly! We’re going to the Society to give your offering to the founders!”

She then rolled her eyes with impressive skill, that Albus wanted to capture the moment and show it to his sister, who was also marvellous at the action.

“And _then_ we’re going to have to stay in that dreary place until your father’s election is over. Merlin, is it so bad for an old woman to just live the rest of her days out in luxury and not at some knock-off, magic, school of racial peace?”

She shook her head disappointedly, and then caught Albus’ rigid posture.

“So hurry up and get your potion,” she added.

Albus hesitated, and then laughed nervously.

“Yeah!” He exclaimed with forced enthusiasm. “My Draught of Time! For the founders… yeah…”

He trailed off awkwardly.

“Where did I put that again?” He asked.

Scorpius’ grandmother sighed again, and then clapped her hands loudly.

“Dorian!” She yelled, and a moment later an older, more hunched house elf came shuffling out of the kitchens.

“Yes, milady?” He asked gruffly.

“Fetch Scorpius’ Draught of Time!”

“Yes, milady.”

“And do you, Ginger and Molesley have our suitcases ready to be unpacked at the Society House?”

“Yes, milady.”

“Good, good.”

And the house elf shuffled off, only to come back soon with a wooden vial wrapped with a red ribbon. Sort of like the one Albus always wore on his wrist, but his was black. 

Albus also forgot he could just call the house elves whenever he wanted to. He would have to get used to them being ready for him whenever he called.

“Let's go now,” Narcissa said, tapping his Society portkey (a brooch of a little silver umbrella), latching it onto his shirt and away they went. 

~~~

They traveled to the Society, and Albus was shocked to find out he was able to do that on weekends. He just assumed he was only able to do it on weekdays. But when he appeared in his Society House, his grandma walked determinedly to the front door, not waiting to see if Albus was too dizzy to walk or if the House Elves had had any trouble getting the large, packed suitcases to the house. She opened the door and a wide-eyed man was waiting outside, his fist raised as he was just about to knock on their door. 

He cleared his throat and said, “Miss Malfoy? Um, hello. I'm Nathan, your guide--”

“No thank you,” Narcissa said simply, waving him away and then walking past him with purpose. “I know the way and I don't need a tour guide.”

Nathan the guide stood at their door in shock, and Albus decided he was going to stay by Narcissa, because if he didn't, he was afraid she would take off without him. And he wasn't confident with the area yet, so he also thought that it would be better if he stayed by her. He gripped his wooden flask of Scorpius’ ‘Draught of Time’ tighter, and pushed past the bewildered guide in pursuit of Scorpius’ grandmother. 

Wherever they were going though, the path there sure was beautiful.

They walked up a mountain, or something like that anyway, Albus was too close to be sure. But it sure _felt_ like a mountain, considering how strenuous the journey uphill was. He didn't know how Narcissa could have the stamina for it all, when _he_ didn't even have it.

But other than that, everything else shouted ‘beauty’ to him. They walked past a river of sparkling, clear water. Leaves of an array of warm colours littered the ground with the strong April winds, and the sun shone through the cracks of their trees, drenching the two journeying people in warmth. 

“Now you know where to put your draught when you reach the shrine of the Society?” Narcissa asked him.

The shrine? _Ohhh, the shrine!_ Albus remembered now! He remembered Scorpius briefly complaining about this ritual he had to do where he had to spit in this potion as an offering to the founders of the Society or something like that. That's probably where they were going now.

“Why is the shrine so far away?” He wheezed, sweat forming on his forehead.

_I need to tell Scorpius to work out more,_ he thought tiredly.

“I don't know,” she admitted. “Probably because of Ikua.”

“Who's that?” He asked.

“What?” Narcissa asked in disbelief, looking at him. “How did you forget about Ikua? You had a whole two month phase where you wouldn't shut up about it when you were thirteen, and then your father had to buy you three sagas and seven copies of the same article to calm you down.”

Albus snorted. That sounded like Scorpius, alright.

From as high as they were, they could look over the Society, and even though it was no Hogwarts, it sure was gorgeous. He could see the massive lake glistening in the distance, reflecting the multicoloured palate of the sky, and Albus wondered if anything magical actually lived there. Were there mermaids? Were there giant squids, or something equivalent to that like what they had in Hogwarts? Albus didn't know. As far as he did know, nothing lived in the lake.

After awhile, Narcissa turned her head to glance at Albus briefly. 

“Scorpius, do you know of _Paix de Dieu?_” She asked.

Albus looked back at her blankly. Narcissa furrowed her eyebrows.

“You should know about it. It's French. You're fluent in it, aren't you?”

Albus cursed Scorpius for being so smart. Thankfully Narcissa continued before Albus had the chance to respond.

“It means ‘peace of God’, and in every saying of Paix de Dieu, they center on _syndicat_. It means union.”

Albus wasn't sure why Narcissa was telling him all of these French proverbs. If Scorpius was fluent, he probably knew what they meant. But Narcissa was talking to him as if he didn't know anything (which he didn't, but she couldn't have known). He didn't speak on the matter though.

“_Syndicat_ has profound meaning. Tying strings together is a union. Connecting to people is a union. And the flow of _time_ is a union. This is all part of the Great Power. The Great Power of Paix de Dieu. The braided cords that we make are tied to that, a blessing of Paix de Dieu, the gods they seem to talk about. They represent the flow of time itself.”

Albus looked down in wonder at Scorpius’ braided cord that he always wore. It was black, with a little silver bead on the end of it. Didn't Albus had one like that? Maybe it was a bit different…

Suddenly Albus imagined Scorpius braiding this chord. How his face would probably be focused, concentrating on the difficult task. But he could do it. He was smarter than he thought he was, and brimming with possibility and talent. His delicate hands could lace their way through any puzzle, and he'd probably won't stop chatting to his grandma about anything and everything. The books he's recently read. His school. His peers. All optimistic, because Scorpius didn't do pessimism like Albus, which is probably why him and Albus clashed as hard as they did. Still, imagining the thought sent an overwhelming wave of affection through Albus. 

He smiled, and Narcissa continued about braiding cords.

“They assemble and take shape. They twist, tangle, unravel now and then, break, and reconnect. That's what a union is. What time is.”

They stopped just before they reached the top and had a break. They drank some tea from a flask that Narcissa had magically charmed to fit snugly in her pocket. 

Narcissa poured some of the flask into its lid and drank from there, leaving Albus to look on in his thirst.

“May I have some too?” Albus asked, containing himself as to not immediately grab it or snap at her to hurry up. 

Narcissa merely chuckled, though Albus didn't know what was so funny.

“That's also a union,” she said as she handed the flask to Albus who had to restrain himself again from chugging the whole thing (he was a sweaty mess). “Whether it's water, rice, or your Draught of Time, when something becomes a part of someone, it's a union. It joins their soul. Which is why the offering we’re making today is such an important pureblood custom. It connects the Great Power with people.”

They arrived at the top of the mountain, and Albus could finally see the other side. And he realised this wasn't just any mountain… it was a _crater_. A large one at that.

When Albus saw the view, he had to marvel at it for a moment.

It was breathtaking. The land before him didn't even really look like a crater with how green and lively it was. The sky was so clear and blue, the clouds incredibly close that Albus wanted to reach out and touch them, and the sun made everything sparkle with an immortal beauty. Little streams and lakes flowed from the rocky land above, all twisting and turning around bushes and ferns to a circular centre in the middle of the crater, that flourished with energy and magic. There was a big oak tree in the middle. Old yet still humming with power. Even Albus could feel it from where he was. If there was a physical description to what Narcissa had been rambling about the entire time, this was it. This was _syndicat._

Built just beneath the tree was something made out of old sandblock, and Albus only needed a second to recognise it.

“This is where it is,” he said to himself, “the sacred shrine of the Society.”

Narcissa smiled at him knowingly, and Albus longed for Scorpius to be there with them. Right now. At this moment. It wasn't the first time he felt this way.

They started making their way down.

Once Narcissa and Albus made it to the circular, water border of the shrine, they stopped, and Albus could feel its ancient power. It was almost intimidating.

“What lies ahead is the _‘here-after’_.” Narcissa spoke, eyeing the water uneasily. 

“Huh?”

“It means the netherworld.”

Albus grinned.

“The _netherworld,_” he repeated, eyes alight with temptation.

Narcissa then actually _allowed_ Albus to help her across the stream, because she didn't want her shoes to get dirty. He helped her step on some large rocks so she didn't have to get herself wet, but Albus had to sacrifice the dryness of his own feet and socks (the stream was very shallow), but he didn't mind. 

The magical pull of the tree only increased when they made it across the river, and Albus felt he could see everything in a deeper, intune light.

“In order to return to this world,” Narcissa continued, “you have to leave behind what is most important to you.”

Albus looked at her questioningly, though he shouldn't have been surprised. He _knew_ this whole thing sounded way too good to be true, and his Uncle Ron kept warning him about the pureblooded Slytherins and their shifty rituals, _especially_ the Malfoys.

Upon seeing Albus’ bewildered and slightly frightened expression, Narcissa let out a tired chuckle, then handed Albus a flask from her large coat pocket. She didn't shrink this one.

“Like your ‘Draught of Time,’” Narcissa said, and Albus deflated with relief. He couldn’t remember her taking it from him, but he just assumed she had when they had sat down to rest earlier.

He took the flask from her, shakily at first, but then he gripped it firmly. He didn't know why, but somehow, some part of him knew this was way more important than just some offering. He felt a weird need to protect it.

“You will offer this at the foot of the Society shrine’s relic,” Narcissa instructed, and Albus had a feeling she had gone over this with Scorpius many times, and he was grateful she was going through the notions again. “After all, it is _half of you._”

Something clicked within Albus. That's why he felt it was more than just an offering.

He gazed at the flask. He felt the wind ruffle his hair, and his heart picked up pace as he took in what he was really holding.

_Half of Scorpius,_ he thought to himself.

Then he went into the shrine.

~~~

By the time he and Narcissa made it back, dusk had settled upon them. The sun dipped into the sky, drenching the land in warm colours of bright orange, vivid yellow, ripe red and pink and pink and more pink. If Albus had thought the outlands of the Society were beautiful before, he thought it was just absolutely stunning now.

“My, my, it's already Magic Hour!” Narcissa remarked, fanning herself with her hand as they reached a bend.

“Magic Hour?”

They turned and Albus could see the Society now. Fog had settled into the towns area. Lights glimmered in the haziness. But the thing that was the most eye catching was the lake. Glittering, sparkling, reflecting the sky. It glimmered with pale blue, baby purple and deep pink, making the whole Society look mystical. 

“Maybe we could see the comet from up here,” Narcissa went on, though now she looked at Albus with a look different from every other time she had looked at him before. 

“Comet?” Albus asked. “What comet?”

Narcissa sighed, a soft smile playing on her face, as she looked down, and looked back at Albus again. And the look she gave him startled him. Not like she was looking at her grandson, but _him._ Like she could see who he was.

“Oh, Scorpius,” she said gently, staring deeply at Albus. 

Her next words made everything around Albus disappear in an instant.

**“You're dreaming right now, aren't you?”**

Albus awoke in a panic.

Tears were streaming down his face.

He was gasping for breath.

His vision was bleary. 

His whole body was shaking.

He tried to level out his breathing, and slowly, he reached a hand up to touch his wet face.

“I'm crying?” He asked himself in bewilderment. “Why?”

Why was he _crying?_ What had happened that made him so shaken?

“Al! Are you okay?!” He heard Brice exclaim in concern, but his voice sounded so far off.

He looked around and he was back in his dormitory. He was so disoriented, like his soul had been abruptly sent back to his body. He tried to recall what happened, but the last thing he could remember was Narcissa Malfoy talking about some magical comet… 

“Hey,” he heard Brice say gently.

He looked over and Brice was staring at him, eyes full of concern.

“You've been acting so weird lately, are you feeling okay?” He asked, coming to sit down beside him on his bed. “If you're feeling too ill, you can just stay in bed for the day and I can tell Mel that you're too sick to go out.”

“Today is Sunday, right?” Albus asked, still not processing what Brice was saying (it was so _odd_ to see him be so concerned). 

“Yeah,” Brice said, furrowing his eyebrows but not looking any less worried. “And you’re meeting up with Melanie in, like, ten minutes.”

Meeting up with Mel…?

His eyes widened.

Scorpius! He set this up! Oh no oh no oh no….

“Oh Scorp, what did you do?” He spat with gritted teeth, not caring if Brice heard him, and reached for his journal.

He skimmed Scorpius’ most recent page, his elegant handwriting messing with his blearily, early-morning eyesight. But one word did stand out most to him… 

“_Date?_” He gasped in horror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating in months. School’s been a naggy bitch, and so has my love for procrastination. Thank you all for the kudos and sweet comments! See you guys when I post the next chapter (in six months probably lmao).


	8. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of Scorpius’s hard work has led up to this day, where Albus is finally going on a date with the hottest girl in Hogwarts. But despite how amorous Melanie might look, with her excellent social skills and her easy smile and her deep hazel eyes and voluminous hair, Albus has someone else stuck on his mind.

Albus was going to kill someone. And that someone was going to be Scorpius. Well, maybe not _kill_ him (he probably didn’t have it in him to kill someone like Scorpius), but definitely give him a very angry letter at the end of the day.

Right now, he was dashing out of Hogwarts to Hogsmeade. It was around 10:30am, which is the time Scorpius apparently had arranged the date (Scorpius should’ve known that on weekends, Albus liked to get up at around 12pm), so they could have the whole day to talk things over and make ‘arrangements’. Albus didn’t know what Scorpius meant by that, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. What Albus was _sure_ of, though, was that he was bloody nervous.

As he ran, he relayed what Scorpius had written to him in his journal.

_Tomorrow is your Hogsmeade date with Melanie! Meet up at Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop at 10:30. Try bringing her some flowers if you’re there early!_

_Screw the flowers, I’m late,_ Albus thought, gritting his teeth as he ran to the vibrant pink shop. If he was going on a date with anyone, this probably would be the last place he would take them. It was just so stereotypical. But then again, Scorpius had been doing a splendid job at winning Melanie over. He probably knew what he was doing better than Albus did. Which was quite embarrassing considering Scorpius was younger than him. 

He looked around, but couldn’t see her. Maybe she was already inside. Albus peered up against the glass, and stared through into the tiny shop, with wooden interior and happy Hogwarts couples of different houses and years all cuddled up in seats together, sharing sweet tea and sugary desserts. But no Melanie.

He sat down on the curb and waited, his mind drifting.

Scorpius probably got asked out on dates all the time. He’s only swapped with Albus a few times a week, and he’s already got Melanie _and_ Easton whipped for him. Two of Hogwarts biggest heartthrobs. It was crazy. Albus knew that if Easton and Melanie could see how Scorpius looked in real life, they’d propose right then and there, for Scorpius’s appearance far surpassed Albus’s.

He looked up at the sky.

What was Scorpius doing now? He’d probably be at school, being a good student, and a good friend to Lucy and Cole. He was probably patting himself on the back for arranging this date between him and Melanie. He was probably very happy about it.

For some reason the thought made Albus feel a quite sad.

~~~

As soon as Scorpius awoke, his mind drifted back to the date he planned for Albus. Albus would love it, but probably love _her_ more than anything else. Who wouldn’t? Melanie was so gorgeous, and with a little help, she would just as easily love Albus back.

Scorpius smiled. 

The thought of him bringing the two together, making Albus happy with her, made him feel happy.

But yet, his smile wavered. He didn’t know why he was still trying, so he just stopped.

He was happy for him, but he also felt suddenly very small. Very insignificant. He felt defeated.

~~~

“Hi!” Melanie exclaimed behind him, making Albus jump. “Oh, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Albus nodded, his voice dying on him.

“Did you wait long?” She asked.

“Yes,” Albus replied, without hesitation, and then the mortifying colour of red filled his cheeks as he shook his head dumbly. “I mean no! No, I didn’t.”

_Merlin, help me,_ he thought, but she giggled.

He observed her then. She was so pretty. With her brown locks let loose, falling down the side of her face, framing her cheekbones. He noticed that she applied some lip gloss to her full lips, and mascara to her long lashes, and he couldn’t remember the last time Melanie wore makeup. She had just never needed it before. When she smiled, a deep dimple appeared, and he found he liked that most of all.

_Just like Scorpius,_ he thought absentmindedly, though the difference was Scorpius had dimples on both cheeks, whilst Melanie had a dimple on just one. He then realised he might be staring at it a bit too much, so he hastily averted his eyes.

“I just got here,” he said, stupidly.

“Thank goodness,” she giggled, taking his hand and leading him towards the shop. “Let’s go.”

They opened the shop, the small bell at the top jingling, and Albus was hit with a strong aroma of baking buns, and all sorts of brewing tea. Melanie and Albus decided to sit in a small booth, overlooking the tea shop by a window, with picturesque paintings of scenery framing the walls. Waterfalls, a bustling jungle, a city of muggles. All moving.

Albus and Melanie sat down across from each other.

His heart was beating wildly. He wasn’t prepared for this. He was way too out of his depth here.

He thought of Scorpius again, and what he would do. Scorpius would know.

Albus wished he were here.

~~~

Scorpius peered at himself in his bedroom mirror, and tried to smooth his hair in place. He felt so tired, like he had walked for miles on end. All his muscles and joints hurt. He tried to search for Albus’s recount of the day, but couldn’t find anything. Which was really odd. Maybe Albus was too tired to write, or just simply forgot.

He didn’t dwell on the thought too much though. His mind kept drifting back to Albus and Melanie, how well they looked together. He started to get his WSG uniform out and dress.

He thought about them, squished together in a small booth, laughing at each other’s jokes, both of their cheeks would be full of happy, lovesick colour. They’d stare dreamily into each other’s eyes, Albus would probably say something awkward, because that was Albus, but Melanie would love it. Scorpius knew she would because he loved it. 

“They’d have definitely met up by now,” Scorpius muttered to himself. For some reason, he wanted to know everything that was happening to Albus right now. He wanted to _see_ him again. So bad. He missed him so much. Which was weird, because Albus couldn’t care less. He was so off. He couldn’t remember a bit. 

He sniffled.

Scorpius was just that little of a deal to him. 

He didn’t know he had been crying until he looked in the mirror, and saw the clear tears streaming down his face.

“Why am I…?” Scorpius asked himself, but he felt he already knew the answer.

The tears didn’t stop.

~~~

_It was a date I wanted to go on! But if it so happens that you end up going, you better be grateful and enjoy it._

That’s what Scorpius had written to him, and though Albus felt disappointed about it, he wasn’t all that surprised. Of course Scorpius would catch feelings for Melanie whilst trying to seduce her as him, which made Albus feel worse. Some part of it may be because he was guilty, if Scorpius did fall for Melanie as him (and he felt slightly ticked off too, he didn’t want him liking Melanie at all, but Albus wasn’t sure why). But it was also mostly because he wasn’t feeling great about the date so far.

He wasn’t talking a lot, because he had no idea what to say. Melanie was trying her best, talking about the lovely interior of the place, how nice the tea was, how kind the staff was, gossiping to him about the new couples in the shop. But sometimes when she didn’t know what to say either, things were awkwardly quiet.

“Oh, this is nice,” Melanie said, biting into a honey drizzled doughnut. At least she had an appetite Albus could admire. She had bought a bit of everything from the shop, whilst Albus just kept to the same tea (he wasn’t quite adventurous in his choosing, plus, he had a tight allowance). 

“It’s my first time here,” she admitted. “I know this is usually for couples, but since you chose this place, is this one of your usual go-to places in Hogsmeade?”

Her smile muddled him.

“What? No way, it’s too expensive!”

She blinked in surprise. After a few seconds of silence, she smiled nervously, and Albus just couldn’t take it anymore.

_I know you can get quite shy and awkward around Melanie (I don’t blame you!), so I’ve handpicked some articles from Witch Weekly to help you out, you little wallflower._

“Excuse me, I need the restroom,” he said to her hurriedly, and without waiting for an answer, he dashed off.

Scorpius knew he would be bad at this. He had brought the articles just in case he needed them, folded them and stuffed them in his robes. He decided to read them in the bathroom, hoping no one would walk in on him.

The first article said: “You Can Get a Girlfriend Too!”

And then there was: “Even if you Suffer from Social Anxiety and Awkwardness, you can still Win the Girl!”

“The Dos and Don’ts of Dating”

“10 Things you Should NEVER Say to your Crush.”

Albus blanched.

Was… Scorpius making fun of him?

He was slightly annoyed, but he couldn’t help but also feel quite proud too. Albus’s cunningness was finally rubbing off on him. He laughed, despite himself. He’d get Scorpius back for this, he was sure.

At the back of the tea shop, Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop had a little exhibit on the history of their shop, reputation and tea, complete with more artwork the shop had collected over time.

Albus thought it would be quite boring to look at, but Melanie wanted to go, and he decided that she at least deserved that. 

As they were looking at different historical models, and reading different plaques, Albus came over an unmoving photograph that looked all too familiar to him.

I was small, and black and white, and it was taken of a massive lake, with small buildings surrounding the area. A forest land was around it, and it looked a little bit like a crater. Albus had seen that place before. He knew it. 

It was… It was his place… his… his name…

**Scorpius?**

“You know something, Albus?” Melanie murmured disheartened, next to him, bringing him back down to earth. Why was he thinking of Scorpius again? 

“Today you’re…” she faltered, and stepped away from him. “You’re like a different person.”

And then she was walking away. Getting farther and farther away from him, and he didn’t stop her. He just stood there and watched.

~~~

The sun was starting to set now, bathing everything in a gorgeous orange. Albus had no idea how much time they had passed in Hogsmeade. They were starting to make their way back to Hogwarts, but something about this whole day bothered Albus. It was supposed to be amazing. Awesome. Fantastic. Scorpius had put in so much work to get him this far, Albus didn’t want to screw it up for him or Melanie.

“Melanie,” he said as they walked. “Are you, um, getting hungry? We could grab dinner too, if you want.”

“Uh, let's call it a day,” she said, shutting him down and making him feel quite ashamed in himself.

“Um, alright,” he said, defeated, and suddenly she had stopped walking, and was staring at him with kind curiosity.

“I could be wrong,” she said, her eyes shining in the setting sun, “and forgive me if I am, but you used to have a little crush on me, am I right?”

Albus’ cheeks flamed, but before he could answer, she continued.

“But, right now, there’s someone else you like, huh?”

The question sort of caught him off-guard. He _had_ been thinking of Scorpius all day, and that probably wasn’t normal when you’re on a date with the prettiest girl at your school. But he was just so muddled by him and Scorpius’s situation, he didn’t know how he should feel about him. 

He thought of Scorpius being on the date he just had with Melanie, and immediately, his heart started to do cartwheels, his cheeks burned and he looked away from her. He wanted Scorpius to be here. 

Regardless of how he felt towards his weird, Malfoy friend, he knew he shouldn’t actually voice his thoughts to her. But he also knew he shouldn’t straight out lie to her.

“It’s not that… it’s complicated…” he mumbled, feeling flustered.

She raised an eyebrow and said, “Really?”

“There’s no one,” he said, avoiding her prying gaze. “It’s not… it's not like that.”

She smiled and moved right up close to him, forcing him to look at her.

“Are you sure about that?” She grinned.

“Eh…”

“Well!” She exclaimed suddenly, surprising him. She moved away and continued her journey to Hogwarts without him, giving him a friendly wave. “Thanks for today! See you tomorrow!”

He watched her go, waited a few minutes until there was an appropriate distance between them, before following her back.

~~~

_By the time the date is over, you should be able to see the comet in the sky! I heard Hogwarts students would be going home for the next week because of how serious the celestial celebration is for the centaurs, and other hardcore astronomers! I hope you enjoy yourself (and say hello to your famous family for me haha)._

Albus had never heard of this new comet before Scorpius’ letter, but he did go up to the astronomy tower for a bit to have a look. 

There was no comet.

It was weird that Scorpius would mention something like this old incident again. Maybe he got the dates mixed up or something.

“What did he mean?” Albus asked himself, not realising at the time, how big his question was. Instead he just settled with the answer, “He’s such a weirdo.”

He went down to his dorm. Brice and Eiji weren’t in yet. He was still thinking of Scorpius. He wanted to tell him how shit his date went with Melanie, but most of all, he just wanted to communicate with him. And he was feeling especially impatient today.

He ripped a spare page out of his journal, and summarised his date quickly, and also how his Sunday had been so far. He asked about what comet Scorpius was talking about. He also asked how his weekend was going. And then he asked Scorpius to actually write the location of WSG and Malfoy Manor just so Albus could contact him. Or see him when he could.

He knew it was a long shot, but he made his way up to the owlery nevertheless. If his dad could send messages to Sirius Black in hiding, maybe he could send some to someone who wasn’t hiding. Not really.

He tied his letter onto a Tawny owl’s leg, and said “Please send this to Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. He lives at Malfoy Manor, or attends WSG.”

The owl hooted once and then took off, leaving Albus staring out into the starry, yet comet-less sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! I hope everybody is healthy and hanging in there! Despite the hard times the world is put under these days, I urge all of you to look on the bright side, and I know that if there’s one good thing about quarantine, it’s the fact that I write significantly more. Huh.
> 
> Next chapter, Scorpius remains heartbroken. Little does he know he’s got a much, _much_ bigger issue to worry over than one attractive green-eyed boy.


	9. The Quiet, Then the Bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius is heartbroken. In the back of his mind, he knew this was always a possibility, but he never knew it would actually happen to him. But Cole and Lucy are worried about him, and there’s a festival tonight, the celestial one he had been looking forward to since he heard about it. He has to find some way to cheer up and forget about a tousled, tan, scrawny and beautiful green-eyed boy he seemed to have gotten too attached to.

A tawny owl with a letter in its beak tapped on Scorpius’s window. He was currently at the Malfoy Manor, getting prepared for this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ comet, but at the moment, Scorpius couldn’t really care much. Which was so unlike him, but even he couldn’t really be of much concern about it. 

He opened the window to let the owl fly in.

Sure, he was half-naked and reluctantly getting ready to go to the celestial festival WSG was hosting, with Cole and Lucy, but he just didn’t feel like it anymore.

Not after all that had happened.

_Why?_ Scorpius asked for the millionth time that morning. _Why couldn’t he…?_

The owl hooted loudly, shaking its leg where the little piece of parchment was attached to.

“Oh, sorry,” Scorpius murmured, untying the letter from the owl and reading its contents. The owl flew away almost immediately.

Scorpius recognised Cole’s rushed handwriting anywhere.

_You haven’t been replying to my letters, you realise that? It’s so unlike you, and at school yesterday, you hardly talked and smiled or stressed about homework! Lucy’s worried about you, and so am I now. She wanted to send a letter, but I convinced her to let me do it. You know, man-to-man. You can talk to both of us if you need anything, though. Even if I tease you a lot, I know you’ve been acting so weirdly lately, and it’s like you haven’t been yourself recently. So when you’re up to it, you should come to us and we can talk it all out. And if anyone hurt you, Lucy and I will beat them up for you too. Whatever you need. See you at the festival._

Scorpius smiled softly. Cole had really outdone himself. Scorpius didn’t know his friend was capable of writing that much, let alone putting his feelings into words.

“Lucy and I rubbing off on you yet?” He grinned, asking no one in particular. It was the first genuine smile he had since leaving London. 

He had been debating with himself whether or not he should go to the festival, but if not for himself, he should do it for his friends. Scorpius’s situation probably seemed very peculiar to them since they didn’t know the context (even with knowing the real story, Scorpius wasn’t sure it would make much more sense either), but they had been loyal and understanding through and through. And the least Scorpius could do was cheer up (or pretend to) for the night, and make sure they don’t stress anymore about him.

This wasn’t the end of the world, and he wasn’t going to die from heartbreak.

But it hurt still. He felt absolutely shattered.

_Albus Potter has shattered me,_ Scorpius thought, trying to make him register it. Trying to make himself believe it. Waiting for the bewildering anger to kick in, like he was sure it would the first time someone were to break his heart. But the anger never came. Scorpius wasn’t angry at Albus. He just felt heavy and hollow, and extremely embarrassed about it all. Dazed too, like he was living in a nightmare, like it wasn’t real life. His mind kept floating back to the question: _Why?_

_Why would he act like that? Was he acting? Did he really not know? Why didn’t he know?_

His head hurt. His everything hurt.

He decided to take this one step at a time. He walked over to his closet, chose a respectable outfit to wear for the festival (he had been planning to wear his plum and teal wizarding robes for a while now, but now the whole thing seemed a bit overkill). He put it on, and decided he looked alright in it. It hugged his torso nicely, fit his slender figure (though it was a bit loose in some places), and was comfortable enough to move around in, even if it was a bit heavy. 

The only problem was his face, which was tear-stained, and his eyes, which were red and puffy, and filled with so much sorrow in them, Scorpius had to look away. He didn’t even know why he had been crying when he did, but after that, he couldn’t stop. 

He thought about Melanie and Albus, on their date. He wondered if they were having fun. Then he shook himself out of it. He would just end up bawling about it again, and that wasn’t good for anyone.

So instead, he stalked off to his bathroom to wash his face and wait it out. He was happy his grandmother and father were already at WSG, and therefore, couldn’t see him in such a pathetic way.

~~~

“You’re just excited to see Scorpius in his fancy wizarding robes, aren’t you?” Cole grinned, nudging Lucy with his shoulder. He hoped she would say something snappy in return, so he could at least comfort himself with the knowledge that _one_ of his friends were normal.

She blushed, shooting him a displeased look and stuttered, “I–I am not!”

Her pale face had now gone a spunky red, and Cole’s grin widened. Thank Merlin. At least he could still rile her up, he loved to do that. 

“It didn’t even cross my mind,” she said truthfully, and despite Cole’s constant teasing about Lucy’s potential crush on Scorpius, Cole was weirdly glad she didn’t actually fancy him.

They had been waiting outside Scorpius’s WSG house for around fifteen minutes, and it was a bit daunting, since Scorpius was hardly ever late for festivals he was passionate about. And he had been ranting about how amazing this one would be since the dawn of time itself, up until recently, which struck Lucy and Cole as more than strange.

“Sorry to keep you,” Scorpius said, rushing up to them and beaming fleetingly, though his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Oh, you’re here!” Lucy exclaimed, at the exact same time as Cole grumbled, “You’re late.”

Scorpius looked very nice, even Cole could admit it. He had always been naturally beautiful (which Cole thought was quite unfair, since he also had a brilliant personality and he was super intelligent), but when he actually _tried_ to look nice, he blew everyone else away. Cole also thought it was a miracle that Lucy wasn’t in love with Scorpius. If Cole had been a girl, maybe he would be.

They started to walk to the Society’s town square, where stalls selling magical medallions and tarot cards and cheap divination merchandise were situated. Magical lanterns shone brightly in the darkening night, but there was electricity boosting the lighting around the grounds, from Cole’s father’s power site in the far off West corner of the grounds. People of all ages had gathered to celebrate this momentous occasion, and they all mixed around in a blur of bright colours and laughter. Despite the oncoming star, this sight alone was beautiful.

Scorpius was walking ahead of Cole and Lucy, peering into stall after stall with a small spark of interest. It was sad to look at.

“Do you think this has something to do with a girl?” Cole blurted, and Lucy gave him a sideways glance. “Like, she broke his heart or something?”

“Guys always assume it has something to do with love. Seriously, and you all call us ladies love-obsessed,” Lucy rolled her eyes. “He said, he’s been feeling a bit down lately. Maybe that’s just what it is. And he’ll snap out of it soon enough.”

“You sure about that?” Cole said, wondering how Lucy had become the one reassuring Cole of his worries. “You really sure he would be this sad for no apparent reason?”

Scorpius gasped loudly, stopping in his tracks before a field of long, dark grass.

“Guys! I can see it!” He exclaimed, pointing up at the starry sky. 

He started running off, away from the lights of the town, into the open field and cloudless sky.

Scorpius looked up upon this vibrant, otherworldly thing, and felt so _whole_ in that moment. Everything else faded into background noise as he peered up at this star, painting a new sky in its tracks, leaving behind dust that brightened the night. It made Scorpius feel so small, and insignificant, but it also made him so peaceful. All his problems, all his victories and failures, they didn’t mean anything in that moment. This star was all that mattered. It was clear, and strong, and it was the only thing that mattered.

Faintly, he heard Cole and Lucy marvelling at it behind him in small gasps and praises, but other than that, Scorpius felt the whole world quieting around him. It was just him and the comet.

It wasn’t long before Scorpius thought his vision was splitting. But it wasn’t his sight, it was the star. This strong, solid trail of shimmering blue and purple splitting off from its body, and a ball of red was falling at rapid speed, away from the star. It was beautiful, and it was on fire, and Scorpius felt his heart rate pick up. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the small meteor. 

Even as it was coming closer, and closer… 

Scorpius could hear the deafening chiming of bells.

~~~

The next morning, the owl that Albus had sent to Scorpius returned, with the letter still attached to it. His letter hadn’t gone through.

Albus sighed.

He was disappointed, but not surprised.

_Oh well,_ Albus thought dejectedly, taking the letter off the bird, and scrunching it up. He guessed he would just have to tell Scorpius how lousy the date with Melanie went the next time they switched. 

He started to continue on with his day, thinking about how soon the Christmas holidays were, and how ready he was to go home and get a break from Hogwarts and everyone in it.

He continued on with his life, unaware.

Unaware that the switches Scorpius and he had been going through until now, would never happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter! If you don’t know what Scorpius is upset about, that’s fine. You aren’t supposed to know yet! There's more to where his sudden heartbreak came from, trust me. Also, sorry for the short update. The next few chapters will be a bit lengthy to make up for it.
> 
> The next few chapters, though, will be in Albus’s perspective.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. Searching for Someone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time flies by without Scorpius, and Albus is starting to get worried. He has no idea what happened, no idea what has changed, but he knows for certain that the switches have stopped. However, he can’t go back to the way he lived before meeting Scorpius. Too much of his life was altered because of him. He needs to see him, at least once. So, he starts with a plan.

Days passed without the switches. Then weeks.

And although Scorpius hadn’t crossed paths with Albus since, he was always with him. Always in the back of his mind, and nearly everything reminded Albus of him. Any book. Any sweet. Any blondie. Everything and anything was compared to Scorpius, and as the weeks droned on, Albus would’ve assumed the constant thoughts of Scorpius would wear off, but he only became more obsessed in his loss. 

He was there, politely nagging Albus to concentrate on his Charms, but Scorpius’ will served as a double-edged sword, since Albus only ever thought of him after. 

Scorpius was with Albus during Quidditch, as the team verbally expressed their relief for Albus’ normalcy in the sport and with his teammates. Albus wondered whether he would ever get to see Scorpius play himself, or only ever hear of how wretchedly hilarious it was from those around him.

Scorpius was there every time Melanie talked to him, as she always skipped up to him, her eyes bright with some hope and expectation Albus knew he could never surpass, and as the dull, fake conversation continued, they would dim out and she would half-mindedly realise the boy she wanted to speak to wasn’t here. She wanted Scorpius, not him.

And Easton seemed to prefer him too. And Brice still bugged him about uptaking Spanish lessons. It wasn’t just Albus that Scorpius’ absence was effecting. Nothing seemed the same anymore.

He wondered what had happened. If the cosmical plothole in the universe that had brought him and Scorpius together in the first place had righted itself, and their relationship along with it, or whether Scorpius had done something to cure this weird, body-swapping thing. Albus wouldn’t use the word ‘cure,’ but maybe Scorpius would. 

He remembered Lucy and Cole and Narcissa and Ginger and Draco and all of Scorpius’ bullies. Would he be okay with how things were without Albus?

_Of course he bloody would!_ Albus reasoned with himself._You were doing nothing really except mucking up his grades and reputation. He’s probably glad this has stopped._

The thought shouldn’t have been as painful as it was.

But no matter how much Albus tried to convince himself of that, he couldn’t stop thinking of Scorpius. Or worrying about him. Maybe he’d just be a pushover and let those three cronies with weird names step all over him. Or maybe, just _maybe_ Scorpius hadn’t done anything. Maybe Scorpius was thinking Albus had done something and abandoned him. Maybe Scorpius did value Albus as much as Albus treasured Scorpius. And, Merlin forbid, maybe Scorpius was waiting for him.

That small chance was all it took for Albus to go straight to his sister.

“What do you want?” She demanded when he approached her. She was scribbling something down in her notebook, flanked by Valerie Holt and Evangeline Oseman, her normal chums. “Did you write to mum?”

Albus nodded, knowing she would ask that. And he didn’t lie, yet he only gathered enough of the motivation to do it because of both Lily and Scorpius’ conjoined nagging in his mind. He loved his mother very much, but he could never find the right words to put on paper for her. His journal was a way of practicing communicating on paper, because Merlin knows he can’t verbally say anything right.

“Did you write to Dad?”

“Yes,” and this time, Albus did lie.

“How about James?”

“Merlin, Lily. You want me to write to Witch Weekly too?”

Lily merely flicked her hair over her shoulder.

“I’m just worried about your relationship with him,” she said briskly, scribbling more in her notebook. “I know you two don’t get along well, but you both should still communicate during school now and then.”

“My relationship with James is no concern of yours,” Albus said, feeling annoyed that the conversation had come to this. And now he was thinking of James, just like Lily wanted him to. Honestly, if Albus were to write James a letter now, opening up about their failed brotherly relationship, it would just be a repeated cycle of failure. They just clashed way more than they clicked (at least, after Albus was sorted into Slytherin, that is).

“I have a favour to ask you,” Albus said, thinking of Scorpius and his silver eyes and graceful smile and supportive demeanour waiting for Albus to come to him at WSG. “Can you draw something for me?”

Lily raised an eyebrow in interest, as she always did when someone asked her to draw for them. Lily was an incredible artist, and she had real talent for realism. She could make her art look more realistic than Muggle photos (and wizard photos, for that matter). And that’s exactly what Albus needed, because he didn’t trust a pensive, for no reason other than a gut feeling. Something telling him not to use a magical object. So there he was, asking Lily to draw something for him, which he had never done in the seventeen years of his living. He was hoping that she would pick up on this and do it without any questions.

Instead, his sister said, “Commission for a portrait is 7 galleons, and for a landscape, it’s 10 galleons.”

Albus gaped. 

“But I’m your brother!” He exclaimed in outrage.

“Make it 10 for a portrait, and 15 for landscape then,” she smirked, her attention already diverting from him.

But even though Albus would never admit it, Lily’s talent was superior to anyone else he could think of. And so he needed _her_ to find Scorpius.

“Lily, please, I don’t have the money right now,” he pleaded. 

Lily didn’t even bother to respond. She was clearly enjoying this. She could be extremely sadistic at times. Sadistic and stubborn.

“I’ll write to whoever you want me to write to, every week if I have to. Even Dad. I’ll spend a whole weekend with James on the holidays. I’ll even talk to Rose and her mates. I’ll give you any presents from the joke shop that Uncle Ron sends me. I’ll even sabotage my next Quidditch match, so Gryffindor can win. But you have to draw a few things for me.”

Lily looked impressed. Clearly Albus had shown how desperate he was for her to do this thing for him. She mulled his little rant over, and then seemed to come to terms.

“Ever thought of getting a job?” She said, and then turned back to her scribbling. Evangeline and Valerie snickered behind her. Albus’ sister truly was sadistic, he was sort of surprised she wasn’t sorted into Slytherin herself.

“Fine,” Albus said, crossing his arms, the desperation from before gone from his tone and expression. “Looks like you don’t get a birthday present from me ever again. Or a Christmas present. And you can forget about you telling me what to do from now on too.”

Lily groaned and scowled at Albus.

“Oh, come on! Don’t be petty, Al!”

“Why should I do anything for you from now on if you can’t do this one thing for me?” 

“You said it yourself! This is one thing. Do you know how hard it is to draw?”

“Do you know how hard it is to write to Mum and Dad?”

Lily’s expression contorted with disgust, as if she couldn’t imagine how she was related to such a dumbass. But Albus couldn’t care less at the moment. If Scorpius really was waiting for him, or even if Scorpius wasn’t, Albus had to see him. He had to meet with him at least once.

“I’m serious about this, Lily,” he said, his jaw clenched and his eyes boring into her hazel ones. “If you don’t do this for me, I swear, I won’t speak to you.”

A beat passed, and Albus was aware of Valerie and Evangeline shooting each other glances he couldn’t be bothered to interpret. Lily seemed like she knew too. She would probably try and lighten the mood up in her own snarky way, but Albus was going to make this as awkward for her as he had to.

“Merlin, you’re dramatic as always,” Lily murmured, just above her breath so Albus could hear her.

Albus let another second of silence pass, until he walked away. 

~~~

The next day, Albus sat with Brice and Easton in Transfiguration, and as McGonagall droned on and on about various Bird-Conjuring Charms. His mind drifted to Scorpius. Again. 

It was crazy how much the absence of Scorpius had affected him. He hadn’t even met him in person, yet he felt he had known Scorpius for a long, long time. Or was meant to know him. Whatever the case, Albus knew Scorpius had altered his way of life forever, and it could not be undone. This bond between him and Scorpius was so strange and strong that Albus could not go back to the way life was before he had known him. He refused too. And maybe he was the only one who truly believed this (if he had met someone like himself, he doubted he would be so disheartened to never hear from them again), and maybe he was being selfish. But Albus had never wanted to _see_ someone so terribly.

He thought of how Scorpius would be in this room. He would pay attention to whatever McGonagall was talking about, study up for his N.E.W.Ts. He would say something quirky and cheerful, making Brice more confused and Easton more enamoured. He’d probably even contribute to class, even though he knew Albus’ personality would clash with his actions. Scorpius would make this classroom better.

It was strange. Even though he had never encountered Scorpius as himself before, he always imagined Scorpius to be himself, tall, blonde and all smiles. With his posh voice and perfect skin and all the rest. And his… his dimples?

Albus frowned.

Scorpius had dimples, right? Or was it a beauty mark? Or both? Albus found it strange he couldn’t remember, since he deliberately remembered poking one or the other.

Whatever, he’d just have to find out for himself when he saw Scorpius again. Because he _would_ see him again. He was so sure of it.

But the fact that Albus had forgotten that specific part of Scorpius bothered him more than he would admit to himself.

~~~

“Albus!” He heard his sister call from behind him. 

He didn’t even turn his head in the direction of the voice. He had nothing to say to her. It hadn’t even been a day since he had tried to get her to draw something for him. She couldn’t possibly underestimate Albus’ knack for holding grudges (if it was anything Albus was good at, it was this).

Suddenly he felt a small hand with a firm grip tug on his arm. He swivelled and came face-to-face with his sister, yet he didn’t meet her eyes. Instead, he looked to her freckled hand and began to physically dislatch her fingers from her deathlike grip. 

“Albus, after deep contemplation, I’ve come to a decision,” she said before he could leave again. “I’ll draw for you. Completely free of charge. You’re welcome.”

Albus didn’t have time to gush over his sister in gratitude. He merely nodded and gestured for her to follow him to the library.

“We have to get started now,” he said as they walked. Albus had Quidditch practice after dinner, and dinner wasn’t far away. He was aiming to at least get something done before then, because it was unlikely Lily would skip dinner for him.

The truth was, Albus knew Lily would come around eventually. For all her attitude, his sister _hated_ conflict. 

~~~

They spent the next hour together. Albus had figured out that the first step to finding Scorpius was to know where WSG was located. He knew he could get to the location to the Malfoy Manor by flooing, but he was pretty sure that was illegal and he didn’t want to go that far yet. 

Plus, from what Narcissa told him last time he was Scorpius, meant that he would just rock up to an empty Manor anyways. Scorpius would be at WSG, and Albus would still be alone, without any way of contacting him.

However, the only way of having any recollection of WSG was drawing it himself. Or rather, Lily drawing it for him.

He described the town, the lake, the mountains to his sister. Where they were situated, the shapes of them, the buildings and made her alter anything that wasn’t perfectly accurate. At first, Lily couldn’t stop complaining about how insufferable Albus was being, that if he wasn’t happy with her work, he should draw it, or at least tell her why he needed it. Albus said he would tell her everything after, which seemed to satisfy her enough. After, she became focused, and almost invested in getting her landscape drawing of the lake at WSG perfect as Albus.

Days passed like this. Lily and Albus would almost miss dinner entirely by the time they decided to stop for the night. Brice and Easton could tell something was up with him, but when Albus asked for space, they gave it to him gladly. Yet Albus knew he couldn’t let his desire for Scorpius dictate his lifestyle (although sometimes he truly did seem obsessed). He hung out with Easton and Brice, went to his Quidditch practices and matches, wrote letters to his parents (mainly because he felt he owed it to Lily), but Scorpius was still there. And he couldn’t help but feel a fictional clock ticking away.

Nevertheless, Lily worked relentlessly, trying to get her work to frame Albus’ memories perfectly. In the meantime, Albus ventured around the library, looking for anything that might help Lily see what he saw when he thought of WSG, or looking for anything about WSG in general.

Other times, Albus would smuggle Lily snacks and drinks (the librarian was quite strict on bringing food and drinks into the library, so Albus really had to be quite sneaky to satisfy his sister’s admirable appetite) so she wouldn’t get cranky. And then Albus would offer her some weak encouragement or criticism, and fiddle with his black wristband.

It seemed like it would be impossible for his sister to perfectly display WSG.

But Lily completed the impossible, just like Albus knew she would.

And when she demanded Albus tell her everything, he did.

Well, the gist of it.

“There’s someone I really need to see,” he told her. “A guy I’ve been chatting to. It’s been kind of through letters and stuff, and I’ve never seen him in real life. So I sort of want to surprise him by seeing him. But I don’t know where he lives, exactly. So I’m going to use your drawings and ask around. See if anyone can point me in the right direction.”

Albus had reasons for not telling Lily the full story. The main reason was that she would never believe the real thing, and then she would immediately write to their Mum and stress her out by declaring that her youngest son had finally gone insane. He was right to not tell her either, because she didn’t even believe this one.

“Three things why this is absolutely unbelievable,” she stated. “One, you have a boyfriend? I guess that would explain why you were so awkward with Melanie for a while, but seriously? The fact that anyone could ever fancy you muddles the shit out of me. Two, you have no idea where he lives? Not even the general area? You can’t send him a letter asking? I’ve been working my ass off for you to set out finding someone who’s definitely a catfish. I swear, Albus, he’s like some fifty year old pastor who’s sexually and attention deprived. And three, you writing letters? Definitely the most unbelievable point by far.”

Albus shrugged.

“Believe it or don’t believe it, that’s the story. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

“So you’re just going to up and leave school?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“When and how?”

“Probably in a few days so I can get a few things in order, and then I’ll just go to Hogsmeade’s Station, walk along the railway until I’m off Hogwarts grounds, and Apparate away.”

Lily frowned. 

“That’s so Gryffindor-y of you,” she said. “So many things could go wrong.”

“And that’s so un-Gryffindor-y of you to say,” Albus said, taking all of Lily’s pencil drawings and putting them away carefully in his satchel. He then turned to her, his heart clenching painfully with gratitude. “Thank you so much, Lily.”

She waved him off, though it was clear she was pleased.

“Oh, shut up,” she said. “As if you didn’t whine and moan about it at first. Just have fun on your little failed escapade whilst I try to calm Mum and Dad down for what’s sure going to have them suffocating in their own worry. And also when Paige shits herself in rage when she finds out her main Chaser has gone missing before the match with Ravenclaw next week.”

Albus felt a pang of guilt, even though Lily’s dry remark wasn’t supposed to make him feel bad. He was going to have to leave her in the mess he was about to make. He truly was a horrible brother.

“I owe you one,” he said, and Lily scoffed.

“Duh!” She exclaimed. “You owe me more than one!”

Albus smiled. He wanted to hug her and kiss her cheek, and he would’ve if they were young again, but now that felt too awkward to actually do. So instead, Albus just said, “I’ll write to you.”

Lily rolled her eyes.

They both knew that wouldn’t happen.

~~~

It was surprisingly easy leaving Hogwarts behind and sneaking away to the Hogsmeade station. No one hardly paid him a second glance. Albus figured they wouldn't, because why would anyone want to leave Hogwarts?

What was more surprising, though, was meeting Easton and Melanie at the station. 

When they looked at him, they didn’t look nearly as shocked as Albus. Easton merely studied him, and Melanie smiled shyly.

“What are you two doing here?” Albus demanded.

He had told Easton and Brice that he would be gone a few days, but he never elaborated much more than that. Of course they were curious, but Albus just shut them up with “I’ll tell you everything when I come back,” and that was that. 

Until now, obviously.

“Lily told us about this, so here we are!” Melanie explained as the three of them walked along the railway.

Albus gritted his teeth in annoyance. _Of course she told them!_

Easton looked over at Albus’ scrunched up face, and said, “Guess she wasn’t supposed to do that, huh?”

“I asked two things from her,” Albus told them. “To cover for me during Quidditch practice and to back up my alibi if my parents or teachers got worried.”

“Relax,” Easton said, getting a folded piece of parchment out of his pocket, and handing it to Albus, “Brice is going to cover for you during Quidditch practice. Somehow.”

Albus skimmed the letter in Brice’s smudged handwriting (Brice was left-handed, so the ink he wrote with was almost always smudged).

_Got you covered! But you and your boyfriend owe me a Butterbeer ;) _

“So you’re all in on it,” Albus sighed, stuffing the letter into his own jean pockets.

“You’ve got everybody worried about you,” Easton said calmly.

“What?”

“We can’t ignore this, what if somebody’s trying to pull one over on you?”

“You mean, catfishing, right?” Albus said dejectedly. Was it really that hard to picture him with anyone?

“I mean,” Melanie chimed in, “you met this person through letters didn’t you?”

She was eating chocolate coated Pocky sticks from the packet, and she offered some to Albus and Easton. As Albus took some, he did realise how sketchy and desperate the whole situation truly seemed. Even if he came up with more lies, like saying he met Scorpius through a magazine, he would probably just be digging a deeper hole for himself.

“Well, not exactly,” he started, realising the best way to answer Melanie’s question was evasion and half-truths. “It’s kind of complicated.”

“Could be from a dating magazine,” Easton whispered to Melanie, speaking Albus’ thoughts and making him grateful he didn’t say that earlier. Still, Albus grew red and flustered and embarrassed.

“He’s not!” He exclaimed, his voice cracking shamefully.

“It’s because you’ve been acting awfully fishy lately,” Easton continued, ignoring Albus’ outbursts, like he usually did. “So, we’re keeping an eye on you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Albus huffed as Melanie chuckled at the two bickering.

Everyone seemed to get the impression that Scorpius was Albus’ boyfriend, even though Albus had never explicitly called them lovers. The realisation that his mates, and his sister, thought him and Scorpius were _together,_ made Albus’ heart go into palpitations, and his mind totally blanked out at the thought. 

Albus truly cared about Scorpius, and the loss of him stung really bad, but could he ever actually fancy him without ever meeting? It seemed like such a weird concept. Yes, he was going through all this trouble to meet with him. Yes, he would go to the ends of the earth to see him at least once. Yes, when Scorpius and him were in touch, it finally seemed like Albus had gained a deeper meaning and importance to his own life. But did that mean he desired Scorpius in that way? Was he even allowed to, given the circumstances? Was he just being obsessive? Did his ‘larger-than-life’ perception of Scorpius consist only because of their weird, body-swapping sensations? Was he only baring himself to Scorpius because he was forced to? Is that why he thought he could never share such an intimate relationship with anyone else?

Next thing that he knew, they were off of Hogwarts grounds. Because when Albus, Melanie and Easton attempted to Apparate to Carlisle, it worked. 

Whatever the case, Albus concluded as they wove their way around the city’s bustling streets, he had to see him. Maybe that would clear up all these confusing thoughts in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Lily. If I’m honest, I like the idea of the Potter siblings and their relationship dynamics more than Albus’ relationship with Rose. Anyways, sorry for not updating in a while. 
> 
> Next chapter, Albus finds out the truth about Scorpius.


	11. Fading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus goes out in search of Scorpius, travelling all over England with two, quite distracted, friends. He doesn't know how long his uncharacteristically courageous and reckless behaviour is going to last for, he just knows he has to keep pushing. But what he finds is not what he expects, and thus starts a cycle of pain, frustration and absolute confusion for him.

WSG is South of England, possibly near Bristol or Southampton. That’s all Albus knew for sure. Melanie, Easton and him had to ditch their wands at Hogsmeade, and kept it hidden so they could come back to them in a few days. They took Muggle transport over there, so the Aurors couldn’t track them down for whatever purpose (he was sure his parents would still look for him, despite Brice and Lily’s reassurance). He tried to narrow down the places he could find WSG by sending out letters to the place, however public owls were scarce, and when he did send them out, they would always return back to him. Even at Hogwarts, this was the case, just outside in the world it didn’t work either. So letters didn’t work at all.

Albus now ran to Platform two on Patchway, and he looked behind him to try spot his two friends who had fallen behind. Melanie and Easton were walking leisurely behind him, staring at something in Easton’s hand. Albus didn’t care for what it was.

“C’mon guys!” He yelled, gesturing wildly at the parked train. “We’re going to miss it if you keep lagging behind me!”

Easton and Melanie gave each other a bemused look and then jogged lazily to catch up. They got on the train just as it was departing.

“You can’t even send him letters? Not even physically anymore?” Melanie asked as they snacked on steak and kidney pie whilst passing the bustling town. 

“Yeah…” Albus trailed off awkwardly. He saw Easton and Melanie share a glance, and he didn’t even blame them. He did seem pretty pathetic.

They got off the train onto another station. Albus surveyed their map and checked off the place they were at. Or should be at. Except it seemed like they had already been there because there was already a big black tick on it. Except that couldn’t be right, because Albus had never seen this place before.

“Where are we?” Easton asked, squinting at the map in Albus’ hands. “You’re a terrible tour guide.”

“Because I’m not one,” Albus snapped. Easton just pointed his nose up in indifference.

“Oh well,” Melanie said in an effort to defuse the situation. “Guess we’ll help you search.”

But they didn’t. At all. As Albus went to ask strangers off the street in which direction they should head in, Easton and Melanie gushed over the new places of England they’d gone to, taking smiling pictures of themselves with their magic polaroids, the printed images of themselves beaming and waving. They once even found a mascot from a Japanese shop of a cow that they found so adorable, Albus had to spend the next ten minutes coaxing them away from it. They bought ice creams and played Exploding Snap and Tag (how can you play that with only two people, Albus had no clue) whilst Albus was always in front of them, searching for Scorpius. He showed the locals the pictures of WSG, in hopes they could point him in the right direction. They sent him all over South England, from Oxford all the way down to Penzance. And soon, morning became night, and Albus had nothing new. 

He realised that they couldn’t go back to Hogwarts now, and they couldn’t just go wandering around in the night, they needed a hotel to stay. He knew James was living somewhere around here, in Exeter, and it would be cheaper just to bus it to him, but Albus felt hesitant to do so. He and James have never been close, and to just show up at his door with two friends and ask to stay the night would seem like he owed James a favour (he didn’t think James would deny him that, right?). Plus, no doubt James would call (that’s right, James really adopted Muggle technology as soon as he moved out of their house) Mum and Dad, and Albus didn’t want to face his mother’s fury just yet.

So, hotel then. And Albus happened to know a hotel that was close to a wizarding cafe they could go to for dinner (thanks to James) before calling it quits for the night (and the search). As the three bussed it to the hotel, Easton and Melanie had both fallen asleep as soon as they sat down, both leaning on Albus for support.

_I can’t believe they’re the tired ones,_ Albus grumbled as Melanie let out a snore.

As they made it to the hotel, Albus heard Easton and Melanie stop. 

“Are we going to continue in the morning?” Easton asked.

“Nope,” Albus sighed, defeated. “This is a lost cause.”

“What?” Snapped Melanie. “After everything that we’ve done for you today?!”

Easton nodded his agreement and Albus groaned.

“You haven’t done anything!” Albus exclaimed. Surely they remembered all their photos and games and snacks, and basically acting as if this was an English vacation.

And they must have, for they remained silent. But Easton turned his nose on him indignantly, in denial.

~~~

“One House Burger please,” Melanie smiled at the waitress who was spelling earl grey tea into their cups.

“One House Burger,” Easton said.

“I guess I’ll have the same,” Albus said.

“I got you,” she smiled, and Albus recognised that she didn’t have a British accent. Was that Canadian? “Three burgers!” She called back to a man in the kitchen.

As she came with the burgers about twenty minutes later, Albus asked, “Do you think we can make it back to tomorrow? Maybe we can borrow a wand and apparate there, and once we get our own wands back, we can return them.”

It would be much better if they were to make it back, because he had a feeling his parents would demand an answer from his spontaneous trip, and the dread of waiting was almost too much. Especially when the thought of never finding Scorpius again set in. But at least he had tried. 

“Well,” Easton said, and Albus could almost see the gears turning in his head, “I think we’ll be cutting it close with our magical strength. I’m not sure we’ll have the energy to travel across England now. Tomorrow even, it’s literally across the whole country Albus. We’d pass out. And who in their right mind would give their wands to us? All I know is it’s definitely not safe now.”

“Okay, cool,” Albus said. “We’ll just go book a room with the hotel down the street and get moving the next morning. Here are the express lines.”

Albus took out his notebook where he had written down all the stations they had been to, and what time the trains were stopping by, so they could backtrack to Hogwarts, or at least get to London. They could then access the MoM easily. Normally he would’ve never of done these things, but being friends with Scorpius had told him that, if anything, you always had to plan. Thinking of Scorpius made his heart ache just a bit.

“Wait, Albus,” Melanie interrupted, staring at his expression intensely as Easton reviewed his travel plan, concern in her hazel eyes. “Are you sure about this?” 

Of course, she was asking whether he was okay with giving up on the search. And if he was honest, he wasn’t so sure. Everyone had put in a lot of work to help him find Scorpius, especially his sister, and Albus had a hard time grappling that it was all for nothing. He needed to find him. The nagging feeling was still there, but if it was anything he was good at, it was finding out when he had lost.

“Yeah,” he said, giving Melanie a soft, grateful smile. He looked at his sister’s sketches of WSG in his satchel, and pulled them out, just so he could feel the place around him again. “I kinda feel like I’ve been barking up the wrong tree this whole time.”

As Melanie and Easton finished up their dinner (Albus finished long before them, as he didn’t know just how hungry he was until he saw the stuffed, golden burger), the same Canadian waitress came back to pour them more tea. She glanced at the sketches and her eyes sparkled with recognition.

“Hey, that’s a sketch of Watson’s Society of the Gifted, right?” She smiled as the three of them looked at her in shock, as if she had just announced she was the second coming of Christ. “It’s drawn really well.”

“What now?” Easton stuttered.

The waitress, oblivious to the teenager’s shocked faces turned her head to call out to the chef in the kitchen she had yelled at earlier.

“Honey!” She exclaimed. “Come take a look at this!”

A few beats passed as the chef emerged from the kitchen and stared down at the drawing. As he looked down on it, the lines on his face seemed to fade as his face lit up.

“Yeah, that’s WSG, alright,” he said, in the same accent as the waitress’. “It takes me back.”

“Me and my husband attended there, you know,” the waitress told Albus, who was still gaping at her like a fish.

“Yes, that’s the place!” He exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and making the chef flinch. “It’s nearby, right?”

“A little West of here,” the waitress said, staring at Albus, her expression suddenly sad. “You don’t…” she trailed off awkwardly.

“The Society was…” the chef said, and he didn’t know how to finish. Albus looked at them in confusion. Why were they suddenly so grim? He turned to look at his friends for an explanation, but their faces slowly turned to that of horror once some realisation dawned over them.

“WSG? That international wizarding school?!” Easton gasped as his eyebrows shot up. “That’s where…” 

Melanie turned to him, her eyes wide and alerted.

“Wait!” She said, her voice incredibly high and her shoulders bunched. “Isn’t it that area where the comet…”

“What?” Albus asked, staring at the four people who seemed to know more about the Society then he did. “What is it?”

They looked at him, their expressions mixed with shock, horror and pity.

“What happened?” He asked.

~~~

Instead of going to the hotel, Albus, Melanie and Easton found themselves getting driven to the waitress’ house, whose name was Sara. She had taken time off of her shift to escort them. She then went inside to find her old portkey, and then, brushing the dirt off of it, she murmured, “I hope this works,” and together, the four of them landed outside the Society’s borders, in the schoolyard that overlooked the lake and small town. Albus didn’t ask why they hadn’t landed into their old Society house, or why they still had their old portkey, because he had other things on his mind.

When Albus arrived, he was horrified to see old yellow crime tape surrounding the borders of the school. He ran up, ignoring his friends calling behind him and his fear for what he may find once he got over the slope. He knew that the school was one of the highest points in the Society, and whatever had happened would be laid all before him. 

But even as he prepared himself for the worst, he couldn’t believe what he saw as he got to the courtyard. 

The lake was there, glimmering in the dusk, reflecting the low sun and the cloudless sky, but everything else was just gone. In tatters. Trees. Buildings. Everything. Like everything had just been picked up by some magical force, and forced down again to Earth, and the cycle never stopped until everything in the vicinity was crushed. Moss had started to grow over the broken town, and the scenery would almost be tranquil if all the history could be ignored. And Albus knew what had caused it, and it was no magical force if the giant, flooded out, crater besides the lake and the barren land before it had anything to say about it.

Albus found himself gasping for breath for one moment, and then forgetting how to breathe the next.

_Scorpius was here_, he kept thinking to himself. _Scorpius was here, and he must’ve been so afraid. Scorpius and Narcissa and Ginger and Draco and Cole and Lucy._

“Hey,” Melanie asked softly, dragging him back to the present and out of the storm of rage and confusion and hopelessness that seemed to be brewing inside of him, “is this place really where he’s from?”

“No way,” Easton answered, his certain tone making Albus’ eyes sting. “Albus must’ve just confused this place with somewhere else.”

“No, I didn’t,” Albus said, his voice wobbling. “This was the place, this schoolyard, these mountains, even this lake here, I remember it all!”

Tears blurred his vision as he felt himself sink lower and lower with the thought that he failed. He was struggling for air now, in denial that Scorpius was hurt or… or worse. Because just a couple of weeks ago he was with Scorpius, and he had been determined to see him, and meet him, and see his bright bubbly smile and personality for himself. And this sudden wave of loss, this slamming possibility that Albus may never ever get to do that, was so unwarranted up until now.

“There is no way that can be true,” Easton said, as if trying to get a stubborn child to understand. “You’ve got to know about this disaster two years ago, right?”

Something clicked in Albus, and everything stopped. 

_No._

_No, that can’t be right._

_That’s impossible._

But Easton was looking at him all concerned, and so was Melanie, and even Sara was quiet and contemplative too, which meant Easton was right and Albus was wrong and the comet Scorpius had been going on about was years ago. But if that was true, how come Albus had only seen Scorpius a fortnight before? That wouldn’t chronologically make sense, right? Not without a sort of Time Turner or other magical device, right?

Right?

“Hundreds of people died…” Easton trailed off, as if trying to jog his memory again. “You know this, Al. We talked about it in fifth year with Brice.”

“Died?” Albus asked, distraught. Something was trying to prod it’s way into his mind. An old memory resurfacing. Just out of grasp. “Died two years ago… but that doesn’t make any sense.”

He turned back around to stare at the devastating view of the previous campus, as his mind drifted off, and the memory found itself.

Him, a scrawny fifteen year old, on the roof beside his mother, huddled closely to her as the dark, night sky was lit up by one bright force of movement. Then his father, brother and sister appeared and together, as a family, they cuddled up on the roof, and looked at the vibrant sky. At the comet, streaking across the obsidian ocean of infinity, paving a path out of violets and aquamarines. Then his mother’s gasp, as a thin, dark outline of a meteor broke off from it, and fire engulfed it as it hit earth’s atmosphere, brightening their world even more. He felt he was in a movie, that he was part of history then.

But it wasn’t him.

“There’s no way,” Albus said, not sure who he was trying to convince, let alone who he was _speaking_ to. “I mean, I still have the entries he wrote.”

He put down his backpack and fished out his yellow journal, taking a bit longer than usually since his hands were shaking so much. He could sense the awkwardness from the others, as if they didn’t understand what was going on or what Albus was going through, and if they were just realising Scorpius was more than just a penpal.

As Albus got the journal out, he roughly flipped through it, searching for Scorpius’s weekly entries.

But as he got to the pages, he felt his lungs fail him again, and his eyes, for when he looked at them, the ink started to actively smudge and fade, making all of Scorpius’ entries incomprehensible to him. He rubbed his eyes to take away the blur he saw on the pages, thinking maybe his teary vision was obscuring it, or maybe he was well and truly losing his mind. But when he looked again, blank pages they were.

No trace of Scorpius at all.

He murmured something, and even he didn’t know what he was saying. Scorpius and his smile and his perfect skin and face and loving demeanor and glittery eyes and impulsive comments and affectionate obsessions and horrible Quidditch skills and geeky behaviour and cute dimples. And he could remember him so well… but there was more than that. Scorpius was him, and had acted as him, lived his life, and had changed his life, turned it all upside down.

What was he supposed to do now? 

He looked to Melanie, who was sharing a decisive expression with Easton, and then she was making her way over to him.

Didn’t Scorpius want to be friends with her? He looked to Easton, who was placing a steady hand on his shoulder, letting Albus lean on him as Melanie led him away from what used to be the Society.

Easton had been affected by Scorpius as well, right? Scorpius had done something to him.

He wanted to ask, but he knew Easton wouldn’t understand.

“They’re fading…” he said instead, his voice dead and flat compared to the hysteria he felt, and how he was on the verge of a breakdown.

Easton and Melanie didn’t say anything, just helped him back to Sara, who was holding the portkey.

~~~

“Comet Tiamat, with an orbital period of 1,200 years, made a close approach to Earth two years ago in October,” Easton read aloud for him.

They were at the Exeter City Library. It was late, but when they landed back at Sara and her husband’s house, Melanie went to use their owl and send of a letter, and Sara came out to write the address on paper for Albus just in case he ever needed it again. Albus told Easton that he refused to go back to the hotel just yet, and his friends must’ve known it would take him a while to wind down, so they went to the library to jog his memory. The library was about to close for the day, but the three only needed to go to the historical section of the near empty building, and found what they needed almost immediately. Even though the comet had fallen on a wizarding school campus, the Muggles seemed to have taken notice as well.

“Nobody predicted that it’s nucleus would split at its perigee,” Easton continued as Albus sat next to him and silently processed the information. Melanie was off somewhere browsing the section for a particular book he had heard her mention briefly. “The fragment that broke off of it became a meteor that struck England.”

Albus flipped through some of the books, with unmoving photographs of the area, and skimmed word after word that seemed to all blend together and drown him out.

“It looked like the school was hosting a festival for the comet too,” Easton said, shuffling through the pages and then finding a map of England with a red target near Exeter. “The point of impact was here. At 8:42pm, it struck right around where people were gathered for the festival. Over 500 died, a third of the campus’ population, and now no one goes near that place anymore. I’d assume that both applies to Muggles and wizards.”

Melanie brought over a thick, black book. Albus’s heart dropped as he read the title.

_‘List of Victims.’_

Now was the breaking point.

As he scanned the names of all the dead wizards and witches he never knew, his heart hammered so loudly he was surprised Easton and Melanie didn’t flinch away, and more surprised that he didn’t pass out from sheer dread and nerves. Page after cursed page, and Albus was beginning to regain hope when he fumbled and found two names.

_Cole Stone._

_Lucy Olsen._

And right below them.

** _Scorpius Malfoy._ **

Albus stared and stared at the name in denial, so much so until the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw beside him caught on.

**You’re dreaming**

“That’s him?” Melanie said, her voice higher than usual, with a hint of frustration. “This has to be some kind of mistake. You were wrong, you gotta be! This person here died two years ago, Albus!”

Easton remained silent.

**right now**

“Just two or three weeks ago he said that I’d be able to see the comet,” Albus said, slowly, feeling restless and exhausted all at once. “That means…”

He looked up into the window in front of him. It was dark outside, so the only thing he saw was the reflection of a boy with circles under his eyes, and a wild expression of someone who had just had the world snatched from him.

**aren’t you?**

Suddenly everything bottomed out, and he blanked. He watched as his face turned from horrified and depressed, to plain confused.

“I…” he started. There was a boy he was looking for. Someone who had a kind smile.

“I…” and he had been looking for him. He had traveled all across England.

But who was he? 

“What was I…?”

_Sco_p_ _ s?_

He couldn’t even remember his name.

~~~

Easton checked into the hotel for them, because Albus didn’t feel like talking. He was actually glad his mates were here now, for he wouldn’t know what to do if he was alone. Melanie was beside him, coaxing him and telling him that Easton and her will handle the Muggle travel plan back to Hogwarts, and he wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Albus just felt lost, like he was missing something very important, and he couldn’t seem to recover it.

As they checked into the room upstairs, they found they could only afford two beds, and besides, it was the only room left available, so Albus insisted on taking the couch. He doubted he would be having much sleep, despite his exhaustion. He sat on the couch, dumping his bags, and contemplated. He tried to come up with a reason for all of this nonsense. Melanie said she was going to step outside for a bit, and after a while of unpacking, Easton decided to do the same, leaving him alone to think.

Why couldn’t he remember that boy properly? Albus still remembered his blond hair and his bubbly personality and his love for reading and other vague things, but he could no longer remember the finer details, like the shape of his mouth, the exact colour of his eyes, his voice. Those things were all void from him. And his name was always on the tip of his tongue, but he never could quite grasp it.

It was the most annoying thing ever.

He opened up his journal, thinking maybe the clues and proof were still in there, but all he got was blank pages.

He strained his brain to think again, trying the power of sheer will to remember him.

He concentrated on his face.

Platinum blond hair. 

Tall.

Pale.

Albus furrowed his brows.

Didn’t he have a posh accent? He thought so… but he might be mistaken.

This boy had a brilliant smile and dimples and… were they dimples? Or was it a beauty mark? Was it both?

His name was… was… _S_o_ _ _ _ s?_

He fiddled with the cord around his wrist absentmindedly, thinking about a solid explanation for this person. Did he lose his mind, making him up in his brain, and finally have just woken up? Why did Easton and Melanie and Brice and Lily help him then? 

Why the bloody hell was he here?

~~~

Melanie let out a puff of smoke. The cold air was chilly against her thin cardigan, but the fire of the cigarette helped her keep up the illusion that she wasn’t cold, and helped her nerves relax from the long day. 

This was not what she had signed up for.

She had wanted Albus to find the man that had made him change into someone softer, and she wanted to get an explanation out of it. Because Albus had been so different those few days, and now, he was acting totally different again. And it drove her crazy, because she just couldn’t understand why he altered so much. She wanted the frazzled, dorky, gentle Albus. That was the person she had taken an interest to, but now, it seemed like he had never even been there to begin with. Because as time went on, she slowly started to forget why they had come in the first place. She only narrowed it down to Albus’s obsession. It made her want to shake Albus back to his senses, and she wanted to force an explanation out of him if it was necessary.

She sighed, exhaling more smoke.

But every time she felt she was going to crack, she had to remind herself that Albus was probably going through something worse, if his delirious behaviour had anything to do with it. She couldn’t understand what had happened to him, chasing after someone who had died long ago, and she knew Easton had no idea what was happening to him either. Maybe once they were back at Hogwarts, there was some unnatural, magical cure or answer for all these seemingly impossible questions.

“Hey,” Easton greeted her, cutting her pondering short.

He sat next to her on the bench, putting his arms around himself in reaction to the cold night. Melanie noticed he had a can of orange juice soda he was sipping.

“How’s Albus?” She asked.

“He’s got all the articles about WSG out, and he’s still reading them,” Easton said, taking a swig from his can. “He’s going through all those newspapers and magazines at random, he’s absolutely obsessed.”

They were silent for a while, but Melanie could feel Easton’s dark blue eyes on her, peering cautiously but curiously.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, averting his eyes down to the pink lighter in her hands. “I just didn’t know you smoke.”

“Yeah…” she answered. “None of my mates like me doing it, and they want me to quit so bad, so every time I have some time to myself…”

She trailed off, taking another hit from the cigarette.

“What do you think about what Albus has been saying?” Easton asked, finally getting to the point that had been plaguing both of them since WSG.

She hesitated, thinking about the question carefully.

“I had feelings for him, you know,” she said, and she felt Easton go frigid beside her. “The way he’s been recently. I mean, he was a nice guy before, but he was even nicer after. Kind of, frantic. It was cute.”

Easton let out a sigh, and when Melanie looked at him, he smiled, like he understood what she was going through. She smiled back. So she wasn’t alone here.

“Although I do think what he’s telling us is definitely strange-sounding…” she clarified. “But I’m sure he met someone, and that someone changed him.”

Easton took another swig of the soda, and Melanie glanced up into the black sky with gold dusting, dreaming of finding _her_ person that would change her like that.

“That much is for sure.”

~~~

Albus flipped through the same magazine of the Tiamat comet disaster for the fifth time, and checked his blank diary for the seventh. When he found nothing knew, he groaned and raked a stressed hand through his messy hair. He propped his arms on his knees and leaned his face against his weary palms.

_It was all just a dream,_ he thought. _I recognised the landscape because I unconsciously remembered the news from two years ago. And if it’s not that… is he a ghost? Or did I just make it up? The whole thing?_

He sat up. No matter what he thought, none of the answers made him feel relieved, or made him feel it was the truth. 

_S_ _ _ _ _ _ _?_

“What was his name?” He whispered to himself, feeling more and more powerless to his fading memory. “I can’t remember.”

The boy was like a dream. And it was like he had just woken up, all the details fading away until all he had left was the main structure of it, and even then it would start to disappear. 

He smiled humourlessly.

Easton and Melanie then walked in together.

“I’m going to go ahead and take a quick bath,” Easton told them, opening the door to the small bathroom.

Albus stood up, brushing the magazines aside as Melanie walked in.

“Melanie,” he started, raking his hand through his hair again, probably making it even more unruly. Melanie went to her suitcase and started to unpack as Albus talked. “I, um, I realise I’ve been saying a lot of weird things. And for that, I’m really sorry to you and Easton, but thank you.”

She shook her head and waved him off, giving him a reassuring smile he knew he didn’t deserve.

Albus stalked back to his spot on the couch, and picked up the closest magazine and started to flip through it. He didn’t know why he had borrowed this magazine in particular, since it had nothing to do with the comet, but he had this _feeling_ when he saw it, and so he borrowed it as well. 

“Braided cords,” Melanie stated, looking over his shoulder and the myriad of coloured bracelets. “They’re so pretty.”

Albus grunted in reply, scanning the contents of the pages.

“That band on your wrist,” she said, pointing to his black cord, “that’s one isn’t it?”

Albus faltered, staring at the beautifully weaved cord on his wrist. 

“Oh, this thing? Yeah, I guess,” he said, still staring at it, and trying to find out why his heart had picked up pace, as if trying to remind him of something his brain refused to. He felt the smooth band again, and suddenly he forgot Melanie was the person he was talking to. “Somebody gave it to me a long time ago. I wear it sometimes as kind of a lucky charm… who was it?”

Melanie touched his arm, and Albus could feel her pitying gaze on him. But he was close to a breaking point, he could feel it. This cord he was wearing, it had answers. Someone had given it to him, how could he forget who that was?

Easton must’ve finished up in the bathroom, because suddenly he appeared next to them, curiously asking, “What are we talking about?”

“It’s late,” Melanie said to Albus. “Why don’t you go have a bath as well?”

“Sure…” Albus said, still trying to uncover what the braid he wore meant. “Wait. Yeah, someone who makes these, once told me something. The cords represent the flow of time. They twist and tangle, unravel and connect. And that’s… what time is…”

Easton and Melanie shared a look, which Albus ignored due to the hammering of his heart. They’d been giving each other those looks all the time now.

“Maybe if I could…” he trailed off, getting out his map, which he had circled earlier where WSG was. He was onto something, he knew he was. If he could get to _that_ place. 

Melanie sighed in defeat, and Easton got up.

“I need some sleep,” he said shortly.

Melanie followed suit not too long after.

~~~

When Albus had passed out a few hours after, he dreamt of the boy he cherished so much.

_Albus._

Silver-flecked grey eyes, staring deeply at him, as if he knew every part of Albus there was to know.

_Albus?_

A cheery grin of pink lips and straight teeth and accompanying dimples, slowly diminishing.

_Albus!_

A posh accent, so very British, his voice all jumpy but his awkward giggle a show of character more than his looks.

_Don’t you remember me?_

Hand brushing hand. Close proximity. Breath against breath. Green clashing with grey. A twist of time. Confusion and heartbreak. A lucky charm.

Albus awoke, his dream already fading and leaving his mind empty.

He stared at the braided cord on his wrist.

His lucky charm.

~~~

When Easton awoke the next morning, he checked the time on the analogue clock that hung in his room. Seven in the morning. Easton had always been an early bird, much to his dormmates dissatisfaction, but he found he was grateful for it today, for he could prepare for the three of them returning to Hogwarts. 

He walked out of his room, to the kitchen, to boil some water and brew some morning tea. He wondered if Melanie liked Oolong, for he knew both Albus and him did. He thought about what she had said to him last night, about her feelings for Albus. He felt her, alright. She had said it was because Albus had met someone, but Easton believed it was more than that, something Albus may not even be aware of quite yet. But he didn’t pry, when Albus found out, he would tell him in his own time. It wasn’t really Easton and Melanie’s business anyways, Albus had never asked them to come along on his journey across England. Easton just wanted to know if he’d be alright on his own, because that’s what friends were for, they looked out for each other.

_Maybe that’s reason enough,_ Easton thought. _Friends tell each other stuff. Even the hard stuff._

Melanie suddenly appeared by the doorway of the master bedroom, which she had taken up. 

“Hey,” she yawned, her hair messy from the bed, greatly amusing Easton. “Where’s Albus?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s still asleep. He’s not an early riser, that one.”

She giggled at his remark, and then set off, probably to go find him. Easton didn’t know how she was planning on waking him, though, for Albus could sleep like the dead.

“So, do you like oolong tea?” Easton called out to her, turning off the power on the kettle and retrieving three cups from the cupboard.

There was a pause, and then: “Easton! You better come look at this!”

Easton sighed, but he left the kitchen almost immediately.

Melanie was standing near the couch where Albus was supposed to have stayed the night, but his frazzled friend was nowhere to be seen. Not even the magazines and newsletters he borrowed were there anymore. Instead, Melanie was holding a letter with Albus’s scraggly handwriting. She passed the letter to him mutely and he read with lips pursed. 

_Dear Easton and Melanie,_

_I’m so sorry for all of the trouble I’ve caused you recently. I know you have a plan to get back to Hogwarts today, and I don’t want to mess that up for you. However, I have one more place I need to check before going back, and I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, so please return without me. I’ll be safe, don’t worry about me._

_Thank you again for everything. You guys are amazing mates._

_Al._

Easton sighed. He guessed if you came from a family of Gryffindors, it was sure to be in your blood somewhere. But damn, even though Easton had been incredibly frustrated with Albus the past couple of hours (he did cover up well), he had to admit he was mildly impressed with how stubborn his friend could be.

“Well,” Easton said, “lucky you sent that letter last night when you did.”

Melanie nodded.

“I felt he was going to try something impulsive,” she said, rubbing her hands together and her expression stony.

Easton didn’t have to be in Ravenclaw to know she was worried.

“He’ll be okay,” he told her, but even he sounded flat.

They stood in silence for a couple more moments, before dejectedly starting to pack up and head back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote most of this chapter at 3am and it was an absolute PAIN to edit. Most of the story was unintelligible and I had to rewrite most of it and uGh LeSsOn LeArNeD. I am not doing that again lmao.
> 
> Also I am very shit at geography (clearly), and have never been to England (also very obvious), so please don’t flame me too much for my shite mapping skills.
> 
> I was going to post this yesterday, but I told myself I wasn’t going to post any on Blackout Tuesday, and I know it’s mostly participated on Instagram, I just decided to not post anything on anything, in respect to everything that’s happening in the world at the moment.
> 
> But on a lighter note, HAPPY PRIDE MONTH BETCHES! 💗💗


	12. An Unlikely Ally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though all seems lost for Albus, what with finding out the person he had connected so deeply with has been dead the whole time and how rapidly he was starting to lose memories of the whole situation. He almost gives up. Key word being: almost. He’s lucky he’s not as alone in his quest as he thought.

When Albus entered the same cafe that he, Easton and Melanie had eaten at last night, there was only one other customer that was there so early in the morning. And it was a familiar face at that. Too familiar for Albus’s liking.

Before he could run out of the cafe before the other boy saw him, the guy called out to him: “Al! I see you! Don’t try to run away from me!”

Albus cringed and turned around, staring at his brother, who wore that annoyingly arrogant grin he always wore, like he had won some sort of competition.

“Hey James,” he grumbled, sliding into the booth he was in. 

“What’re you doing in Exeter?” James said, clearly amused. “As much as I would appreciate it, I doubt you ran away from Hogwarts just to see me.”

Albus scoffed.

“So you know about my escapade too, huh?”

“Of course I do. Mum is in hysterics, and Lily and her aren’t talking to each other. Plus, Dad has Aurors scaling all of England right about now, and he keeps pulling your mate, Brice, into the Ministry for questioning. They’re going crazy.”

Albus cringed, feeling suddenly very, very guilty for his sister and friend’s expenses.

“I didn’t think it would be that much of a big deal, I’m not a child anymore, I’m seventeen,” Albus murmured and James laughed so much he was wheezing like a kettle going off. 

Albus didn’t know what was so funny, but then again, he should’ve known James would laugh at whatever lousy excuse Albus would come up with. James laughed at everything. 

“Try telling that to Mum,” James grinned. “Remember, this is the woman who wouldn’t let me move out here until she interviewed all my neighbours, approved of the small house I was getting, and made me vow to write to her twice a day, even though she can Floo anytime she wanted, which she did, all the time.”

Albus snorted at James’s haunted expression. But he did have a point. His mother would not deem any of Albus’s excuses or lies worthy.

“Please don’t tell them I’m here though,” he said, his voice pleading. James raised his eyebrows, because Albus had never really entreated him before. But this was bigger than his pride. “I just need one more day. Then I’ll go back to them. Please, it’s _really_ important.”

“I thought you were only supposed to be searching for this guy for a day, what happened?” 

“How do you know about that?” Albus recoiled.

James looked at him in exasperation, which made Albus feel a stirring of unease in his stomach. Normally the roles were reversed, or the scenarios, since James has always been more of the hopeless romantic type of guy. 

“Your sister is my sister too, you know.”

“Oh, right,” Albus blushed.

Lily probably did write to him then, since she was always writing to everyone. Rose and Hugo probably knew why he was gone too. Rose was probably shaking her head in disbelief, and he could almost hear her rambling to her friends what an idiot her cousin was. And if Rose and all her Gryffindor mates knew, then eventually word would get around the school, to each of the houses, including Slytherin, to where Paige would catch wind of it. And if Paige knew his lame, half-truth justification for ditching school, and probably more importantly in her eyes, ditching _Quidditch,_ well, he was a dead man walking already.

“Joseph, your friend, she wrote to me last night and told me about WSG,” James said softly, and Albus looked away, though he could still feel James’s hard gaze on him. “Your friend was a student there? Al, is he—?”

“James, please,” Albus told him, his voice getting thick with the need to leave immediately and go to where he needed to go before the memory left him. He didn’t want to just sit here and explain himself again and again. “I just need to check one more place, and then I’ll go home. All I’m asking is you don’t tell anyone just yet.”

“Is he dead, Albus?” James asked, ignoring what Albus had said.

Albus didn’t know how to respond. First off, it caught him off-guard when James had called him ‘Albus.’ For as long as he could remember, James had called him by his nickname. Second off, James’s uncharacteristically grave tone made him falter, because it was unlike him to say anything without a cheerful or cheeky tone. And thirdly, he didn’t know what to say to James’s question. Not because he didn’t want to think about any harm coming to this precious friend of his (though, he could admit he didn’t want to think about that), but because something inside of him, was probing at him, something about this whole death thing two years ago seemed off to him. He _knew_ there was more to this, but how could he explain that to James and make him understand?

“I don’t know,” he finally said, and he found that that was the closest to the truth he could possibly get to, whether it was with himself or with James.

James sighed.

“Where is Joseph and that other mate of yours, Mason?” James asked.

“They carried on back without me.”

“They _left_ you?”

“No! I left them.”

James sighed again, this time bringing a hand up and pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes shut and his brows furrowed. Albus may have been going crazy over the past few hours… but James, carefree, goofy, jolly _James_ looked too stressed to fit his character at the moment. It seriously unnerved Albus.

He didn’t know how to react to this situation.

“I’m worried, Al, because—” James started.

“You’re worried!” Albus blurted, his shock overcoming the decency to let James finish.

“Of course I’m worried, you git! I’m worried because all of this… this pursuit for this something, or someone, it’s _so_ unlike you. Running away from school. Not even leaving a note for me or our parents. Only letting Lily and Brice explain for you, and taking three of your own friends with you. It’s just so contrasting to who you are as a guy, that at first I didn’t believe it when Lily sent me a letter, nor when Mum flooed into my place at midday, distraught and enraged. And now you’re going off on your own… what you’re doing is concerning me a lot, is all.”

During his rant he had been running a hand through his dark hair, making it stick up in all sorts of places, and he exhaled sharply, and the sight of James looking this anxious astounded Albus to the point where he just stared at his brother, slack-jawed.

“What?” James asked, his expression growing from pinched to confused.

“You have me worried too,” Albus admitted, only seeming to muddle James more. “Because you being anything but easy-going and obnoxious is too strange to experience.”

James kicked him lightly under the table, making Albus wince and kick him back, seemingly harder that James bit his lip from repressing a yelp. And soon they were kicking each other until Sara’s husband came out of the kitchen to lecture them lightly on the disruption they were causing (even though other guests were only beginning to come in now). 

Once they settled down, James responded, irritably.

“It’s the curse of having two reckless little siblings that live far, far away from you. You try being a big brother and see how you like it.”

“I am a big brother,” Albus pointed out. “Your sister is my sister too.”

James snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, and then multiply the stress you feel over her by two, and see what you get. Just wait until Lily hits seventeen. If this is the weird, young adult crisis you’re having, imagine hers,” James shivered.

“I don’t worry about her that much,” Albus said truthfully, and James rolled his eyes, like Albus could never understand, or that he was lying to himself (okay, maybe he worried a little).

“I guess you can only blame my big heart,” he said, and Albus rolled his eyes.

“Well,” he said, licking his lips, “I have somewhere to be James. It was nice seeing you, and you don’t have to worry about me, I know what I’m doing, I have much more sense than you do. But, just don’t tell Mum and Dad yet, okay?”

James seemed to consider Albus, his face turning grim again. Albus found himself feeling scrutinised, but not in the way that made him feel uncomfortable. In the way that made his chest feel warm. He might’ve been soppy due to all his messy emotions he had been feeling recently, but he found it was nice to have a James look out for him like this. If he was even doing that, and Albus wasn’t taking this entirely out of context. Because if he were to go back in time and tell himself James was playing ‘Brother Bear’ with him, he’d laugh at his own face.

_Going back in time…_

Albus was still stuck on the idea when James spoke up again.

“Okay, I’ve made up my mind,” he said, getting up. 

“Where are you going?” Albus said, immediately alarmed, and he followed James hurriedly as he walked to the cashier where Sara was, and told her he’d take Albus’s unfinished breakfast sandwich to go. Then he paid and walked out of the hotel with the food, to his red rusted car before answering Albus.

“I’m taking you there,” James said purposefully, and Albus blanched.

“You don’t even know where I want to go!” Albus exclaimed, not wanting to deal with James’s Gryffindor pompousness at the moment.

James gave him a stare.

“Can you drive there?” He asked.

“Well, yes, but—”

“And you have the address?”

“Yeah, I—”

“So get in,” he said, turning on the power.

Albus hesitated, but he couldn’t see why this would hurt. It was a free ride, and James was also probably not going to summon his parents with him. Unless he did that once he reached WSG, and used this strategy as a way to get more answers whilst all he had to do was sit back and listen to his parents interrogate him, play his ‘brother’ card and watch the whole show unfold before him, but Albus doubted that was it. It was too ‘Slytherin-y’ of a thing for James to do.

So they started the drive to the old Watson’s Society of the Gifted. Meanwhile, Albus filled James in on the strange events of his journey. He started with the “letters” between him and this boy (explaining his body-swapping experiences, that he couldn’t even properly remember himself, sounded too sensitive of a subject for him to open up to), and then his disappearance, and then Lily’s sketches, which he showed with more than a bit of pride for his little sister. Even James was taken aback by how amazing the sketches were. He then explained how he travelled all over England, and finally landing in Exeter, bumped into the right people at the right diner, and found out about WSG. 

“You should've remembered the Tiamat comet and it’s aftermath,” James said, frowning. “It was all over the papers.”

“That’s the thing. I couldn’t remember what had happened until I was face-to-face with the wrecked town of the Society. I remembered it happening, but only after seeing it like that. And that’s what I don’t understand.”

He then explained how he totally forgot about the boy, his face, his family, his life, his _name_. It all started quickly disappearing from his mind, especially once he found out that the boy he was searching for was amongst the many victims of the Tiamat comet.

“So he is dead!” James said.

“I told you, I don’t know,” Albus said, and seeing the understandably odd look James gave him, he hastily continued. “What’s happening to me… it’s all so weird, James. All I know is I _have_ to find this guy. And some part of me, just doesn't think he’s truly gone. The… the letters, and the description, and…” Albus gave up trying to explain body-swapping through letters.

“Maybe he’s a ghost?” James said, and Albus shook his head.

“No, I don’t think so,” Albus said firmly. “All I know is that there's more to this person than it seems. And I have to get closure, I have to find out what’s really going on.”

The two boys were quiet for a moment, both in contemplation.

“Have you thought of taking a potion to jog your memory again?” James asked. “Or, re-reading your letters with him, if you still have them?”

“I don’t,” Albus said. “And I have a feeling normal potions won’t work on me.”

“What do you mean normal?” James asked, but when it was clear Albus wouldn’t respond, he backtracked. “I heard divination might help.”

“Maybe I’ll try that if this doesn’t work,” Albus said, feeling more at ease than he had in what felt like weeks.

Something about being with James now was putting him in a much better headspace. Because he finally felt like he was being taken care of. And though Albus would _never_ say it aloud to James, and no matter how insufferable he found James to be at times, and no matter how much he talked about becoming an adult and having responsibilities, he liked feeling that the burden wasn’t all his. It was different, with Lily, because she was younger than him and unconsciously, Albus didn’t want to have her experience what he was experiencing during his dark times. It was different with his friends, because no matter how much he trusted and loved them, they didn’t share the same bond as he shared with a family member, and so they couldn’t help him as well. It was different (but not that dissimilar) to his parents, who although they loved and provided for him unconditionally, they were always going to be more his guardians than his companions. Whereas James, his older brother, could be both. And he missed that feeling, since they didn’t get along too well at Hogwarts, and once he graduated Albus was on his own. But talking with him now was so unlike their usual bickering, at first Albus was awkward about it, but then he found himself quite enjoying his brother’s presence (for once). They hadn’t spoken, or wrote to each other in so long, and Albus hadn’t realised how much he missed him.

It was nice, catching up with him.

James told him about Exeter, his new girlfriend who James promised he’d introduce her to the whole family during Christmas break (which where Albus snarkily commented about them not lasting that long, for as passionate as James’s relationships were, they were quick to burn out), and his job being an Auror there. To his surprise, Albus found it interesting of all the different cases and issues the Aurors had to deal with on this side of England. All of it sounded so nauseating and concerning to Albus, though, and he was once again reminded as of why he had decided never to be one.

Soon, their chatter died down and they arrived at the abandoned site. Albus inhaled deeply and got out of the car, zipping up his jacket at the cold morning chill in the air. James got out later as well, with his own jacket, carrying his wand and their takeaway. 

“So, where are we going?” James shivered. He had never been a fan of the cold weather.

“James,” Albus started guiltily, “I really appreciate you looking out for me, I do, but I need to do this part alone.”

“What?” James asked, dismayed. “But we were going so well! We only argued, like… twice in the past few hours!”

Albus smirked despite himself.

“I know, James, but I promise I’ll be okay,” Albus reassured him, trying to balance the growing frown on James’s face. “I don’t think what I’m about to do will work if I’m not alone to do it.”

James sighed and rubbed his temples, like Albus was giving him a migraine.

“How do you plan on getting back then?” He asked, and Albus faltered.

James sighed at his brother’s clueless expression, and fished something out of his pocket. Albus’s eyes widened as he withdrew his own, dragon heartstring wand. 

“Take care of this, mate,” James said seriously, putting it in his hand. “Hopefully that’ll work for you.”

Albus blanched, and shook his head.

“James, I can't take this.”

“Take it. You’re going out into Merlin-knows-where without a lick of protection. I don’t want you to end up dead.”

Albus wanted to deny again, suddenly thinking about the night before, about how he didn’t want to go to James’s place in fear of owing him a favour. The thought only occurred yesterday, but it felt like an eternity ago, and he knew this was different. He didn’t understand how only a couple of hours with his brother had improved their relationship so much (at least, in his opinion it did). And though it wasn’t perfect yet, at least Albus knew they were finally getting somewhere together, _doing_ things together. 

Maybe the trick was just to accept the things people want to give to you, and not deny them. 

So Albus smiled, genuinely heartfelt.

“Thanks, Jamie.”

James smiled too, shoulders untensing at the use of his old nickname. When was the last time Albus called him that?

“Alright,” his older brother said, making up his mind again. “I’m staying here to wait for you to come back. How long will you be?”

Albus’s mouth fell open, and it took him a hot second to figure how to close it again.

“You don’t have to wait for me!” He exclaimed, embarrassed.

“Al, I understand recklessness and all,” James began, and Albus snorted. _No shit._ “But if you so happen to die out here, on _my_ watch, I’ll be a dead man walking. Mum will find me, and she’ll kill me. And then I’ll find you in the afterlife, and I’ll haunt you with my loud voice and bad jokes, most of which include making fun of anything Slytherin, for the rest of eternity. I swear it.”

Albus cringed.

“You could just… not tell Mum you knew I was here,” Albus suggested hopefully.

James shook his head.

“No, that woman has a sixth sense. And besides, I’m a horrible liar. Especially with Mum. She’ll find out, and she’ll kill me.”

“No way. You’re the favourite child.”

That made James grin, and Albus rolled his eyes. Despite all his talk, James had remained a Momma’s boy through and through.

“Well, if Mum won’t kill me, than the guilt of not saving my baby brother would,” he said, and Albus scoffed, annoyed. “But I’m serious, Al. You can’t change my mind on this.”

“Okay,” Albus relented. He rather have this than having been haunted by James’s annoying voice for the rest of his eternal, dead days.

“How long will you be gone for?”

“I don’t really know,” Albus admitted. “At the least, about two or three hours. If all goes according to plan, maybe a day.”

“_A day?!_” James exclaimed, aghast. “A full-on twenty-four hours?! I’ll give you until nightfall and that’s that! If you’re not back in this car by then I’ll tear down that whole wreckage looking for your body, until I’ve got you, and then I’m calling Mum and Dad. I’ll do it, Al, I’m serious about this.”

“Well, that’s a first,”Albus remarked, but James gave him a look that shut him up and made him feel sheepish. James reminded him of his Mum just now, and he found himself missing her.

_Stop it. You’ve got a job to do. You’ve already wasted enough time chatting your arse off with James. Have you forgotten about _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ?_

Albus felt immediately guilty for stalling for so long.

“I’m going to go now,” he told him.

“Wait! Also take this!” James said, passing him the sandwich. “For lunch, if you can’t get food. And maybe it’ll last you dinner too.”

Albus blinked at it, before grabbing the bag and stuffing it away in his backpack.

“Thanks a lot, James,” Albus said, eternally grateful. He would never forget what his friends, brother and sister had done for him in this journey. He’d be totally useless without them.

And so, with his lunch, his brother’s wand and his map, he began his trek.

~~~

Of course, today was the day it was going to rain. 

Albus had been trekking up the path of the land overgrown with moss and trees from the lack of reserving any man made territory. He found himself grateful he had had the right mind to take the map with him, for with the dark clouds and the gloomy morning, Albus was sure he would’ve lost his way without it. The rain started not an hour soon after, making the air even colder than it was, and the path harder to see.

Albus swore like a sailor, whilst casting heat charm after heat charm with James’s wand (that somehow _didn’t_ backfire on him, thank Merlin) as he ran through the mud for shelter. He found a large, sloping rock nearby, and he ducked under it to catch his breath and regain his stamina. He looked at his drenched, useless map, and cursed again. He then did his best to dry it with his magic, but he had always been terrible at Charms.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ would’ve known what to do.

After a while, he managed to make it look intelligible, but his markings were still smudged, and the paper seemed more fragile than normal. From this point on, he would have to tuck the map away from the rain and continue on if he wanted to use it later. It would be no use to Albus anyway, if he had it out whilst he was walking, for the rain was so damn heavy he doubted he would be able to see it.

So, whilst deciding which way he would go, he recited the route over and over in his mind. Since he was approaching WSG from the north side, which used to be the residential area, then he would have to travel a bit to the opposite side to get to where he wanted to go. And then follow the path again until he arrived at the large crater.

He ate his sandwich (which was now cold) as he waited for the rain to stop beating down on the earth so brutally. Once it died down a bit, Albus immediately sprung up and kept going, anxious of the time of day. The last thing he needed was James and his parents and probably a dozen Aurors (half of them being his extended family) coming to his ‘rescue’ before he even got to where he wanted to go.

He tucked the map away, pulled up the hood of his jacket, and tried his best to ignore how his gut twisted in self-doubt as he ran through the rain. At times like these, he wished his Gryffindor genes had been doing its best to not make him question himself, but it seemed like he used up all his courage already.

But all he had to think about was the fading memory of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , and he kept pushing as hard as before.

He got to WSG, and he felt looming despair creep over him as he looked at the devastated area again. But he couldn’t let himself sulk for even a second, he had someone to save. Walking around the giant, over-flooded lake, until he found himself on the opposite side, he found a side path leading up into the wild again.

He looked at the braided cord on his wrist, and his heart picked up pace.

He was close. He could feel it all throughout his body. This aching, this _yearning_ for somebody he knew so well, but had never met.

_They assemble and take shape._

He took off down the path, and immediately felt he had been down it before. He wasn’t crazy. This was real. What had happened to him was real.

_They twist, tangle, unravel now and then, break, and reconnect._

Albus had never ran up a mountain so fast. Or, whatever he was running up. He remembered it had felt like a mountain last time, and it still did. Leaves were falling off the trees as the seasons changed, but besides that, everything still looked so alive. The environment was thriving in almost a chaotic perfection, but Albus didn’t have time to stop and awe at it. He had a job to do.

_That’s what a union is._

He kept running and running until he rounded a bend and found himself almost climbing the next slope, which was much steeper than he had remembered. Maybe it was because of the fact that the nature had changed along with time, or that  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ was much taller than him, so he had never noticed.

_What time is._

There it was. The crater. And through the mist and the deep water swirling around it, Albus spotted the same, giant oak tree in the middle of the vast field. It was still humming with its ancient power, though not as strongly as before.

“There it is,” Albus murmured, his eyes lighting up despite how misfortunate the view looked compared to last time. 

_It’s really there! All of this wasn’t a dream!_

Before Albus could process his overwhelming feelings of relief, he found his legs wobbling beneath him, struggling to keep him upright, and his eyes burn. These past few hours had made him question everything, from his identity to his sanity. And even though he had never given up on _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, this just _proved_ his experience for it. And it also proved that _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ wasn’t totally lost yet.

He rubbed his eyes and forced his legs to straighten up. He could cry once he got  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ back. 

So with a big breath, and a newfound, hopeful desire to rescue his special person, Albus made his way to the shrine where the fermented Draught of Time was waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry if there are any spelling mistakes! I haven’t felt very motivated much and my editing might be a bit off because of it but I just decided to post this despite.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Originally I didn’t plan for James to make an appearance in this, but the Potter siblings are amazing to me and I couldn’t help myself. The way I view Albus and James as brothers kinda varies from how people say they get along a lot, which I don’t really see, since I view them as the type of people who can’t stand (or understand) each other for the life of themselves, but will take a bullet for one another without hesitation. They kinda remind me of my sister and brother!
> 
> Maybe since lockdown has started up again in Melbourne, I’ll get around to writing more hehe. Until then!


	13. The Netherworld

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus had traveled all across England to find the special person that had faded from him. And now, here he was, face to face with something that not only proved Albus wasn’t delusional and there was someone else, but something that may bring him back. And that’s all Albus needs. One last chance.

_What lies ahead is the Netherworld_, Albus thought, as he sunk into the knee-deep water separating him from what was waiting beyond. Remembering what someone (he wasn’t sure who yet, but he knew it wasn’t who he was after) had told him, he knew he would have to leave behind what was most important to him in order to return. But he couldn’t worry about that now. Not when he was _so_ close.

He reached the shrine, and upon entering it, he became sheltered from the heavy onslaught of rain. He cast simple drying charms on himself, at least enough so his clothes didn’t feel like cold sponges. He then cast a _Lumos,_ and examined the space.

It was familiar alright, he had been there before, but not as himself. It was a small, narrow dirt passageway, the roots of the great tree above him framing the walls and sticking out of the low ceiling. As he walked deeper into the shrine, he reached the end and spotted a miniature, statue carving. It was sacred, he knew, sacred for something that was not standing any longer. However, he didn’t waste much time examining it, for his eyes immediately drew to the wooden flask beside it, now covered in moss.

“It’s still here,” he said to himself, eyes wide. He couldn’t quite believe it. The Draught of Time that they had brought. 

He picked up the flask, ripping the moss that had grown over the base of the flask to the stone it had been sitting on for years. He shook it a bit, and he knew he wasn’t mistaken when he heard the sloshing and fizz of the potion inside. 

So he had placed the Draught here before the comet struck, two years ago. So the person he had met, and had grown so close to, he had been conversing with them two years back. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ should’ve been his age now. He had been switching places with him two years ago, which meant their times weren’t in step. They were getting tangled, somehow. Albus didn’t need to be a brainiac like Rose or his Aunt Hermione to know that wasn’t normal, even by wizard standards.

He rubbed some of the moss of the flask, staring at it in wonder. He was right. This was solid proof that what he had been through was real. How else would he have known where it was?

It would have fermented by now. It would be drinkable.

With some difficulty, he unscrewed the lid.

This was half of him.

He crossed his legs and sat down, staring at the golden, fizzing liquor within the flask. He looked up at the stone carving the Draught was placed at. It was supposed to be a sacrifice to Paix de Dieu. The Peace of God. And Albus had come and was about to drink it. 

He swallowed. He was an atheist and all, and he had never feared any superior power (because he didn’t believe in them), French or otherwise. But, what was the harm in praying? Especially now.

“Please,” he murmured to the statue, trying his best not to feel stupid, and instead thinking of the bright, smiling boy that was gone. “Please, just give me one more chance.”

With that, he downed the potion. One gulp, two, three, four. The fizziness burned his throat a little, but it was the bitterness that made him cringe. 

Once he had finished it, he paused, waiting, wishing for something to happen. For him to wake up in another's bed, to see another’s friends and family again, to live another’s life and save it. He waited.

And waited.

And nothing happened.

He felt no different.

He sighed, defeated. What had he expected to happen anyway? What was he going to do now? Trudge back to James? Would the effects kick in later? Should he wait to digest it? Did he drink it wrong?

He put the mossy, empty flask aside, picked up his glowing wand and made to stand up. But he slipped, and his eyes met what was carved on the ceiling of the shrine.

_A comet._

He knew it wasn’t his wand playing tricks on him. Time seemed to slow down as he fell, his eyes glued to the carving before him, that seemed to take colour and come to life. It was green, then indigo, then sky blue, then a myriad of all of them. Chalked, purple and yellow stars dusting the whole of the mural, bright blue falls of glowing fire crackling with energy, and green tails with streaks of orange.

His back hit the ground, and everything faded to black. Everything except the comet, that straightened itself, and Albus watched in amazement as he left his body and mind, and couldn’t even realise who he was or where he was or what was going on anymore, the only thing that existed was the comet. The red, and purpled trail, that was falling and falling and falling into the indigo nothingness. He heard fire crackling somewhere, as the comet fell and fell and fell, it’s long tail never ending behind it, like a stream, like a cord. And just when the comet nearly became too distant to see, he heard water. First something gentle, like a trickling stream nearby, but then a resounding splash, and then suddenly, he felt his soul being thrown into the dark nothingness, along with the comet, stream, cord. The darkness enveloped him, cooling him to his very core, chilling the very essence of him. It was like his very being had been thrown out into this deep, icy pool of mystery. 

But the more he sunk, the brighter his surroundings became, almost blinding him. Yet, nothingness was still nothingness.

He continued to sink deeper, and just when he thought that he would be there for eternity, a red cord came into view. No, it was black. It was a braided cord. His braided cord, the one he wore around his wrist. It fell down with him as if it wasn’t sinking, but merely falling. It connected him to everything he was about to experience in this blank, shifting world.

The comet again, blue this time. Always shifting its shades and shape. It was so tangible, Albus could hardly tell what it was if it wasn’t for its energy, its power. It twirled and twisted, unlike any comet he had ever seen. Other beings tried to keep up, but yet the only thing that mattered was the comet. Albus’s existence paled beside it. 

In a burst of violet, the comet split.

And Albus was thrown skyward as he watched as half of it skyrocketed downward, and he could see England. His green, green country, the only one that mattered, it seemed, for the rest of the United Kingdom and Europe was gone. And the comet continued to shoot past the atmosphere, burning in a silvery blaze.

When it struck the southern part of the country, Albus had been waiting for an explosion, but all he heard was a gentle _plop_ as the comet hit the country, continuing on its trail as if it had run into no force at all. Yet the small ripple it had caused on the liquid surface of the country, got bigger, and bigger, until it was a wave that submerged everything, including Albus.

And when Albus thought he was about to be thrown into nothingness again, he saw it.

With death comes life, and with life comes death, and the cycle goes on.

A red, beating cell. An egg, in a pale green world. It was warm, Albus knew. But he couldn’t touch it. Not yet.

He watched in wonder as the cells multiplied themselves, growing larger and larger, until Albus knew it was alive. He heard the distant cry of a baby, the breathless, raw wail of someone who had just been brought into the world. 

And in a flash of yellow, Albus was brought to the scene of a beautiful woman, letting her newborn son wrap his chubby, red hands around her thumb. Her brown hair was splayed out on the hospital pillow, and she was panting, as if just having been put through unimaginable toil. Her face was flushed, her hospital gown rumpled, her eyes filled with tears from the pain she had endured, and her face weary, but as she looked at her son, Albus knew he had never seen someone look so happy, so full of love, as the woman did. She smiled softly down at him, and he knew this was the happiest moment of her life.

“Scorpius,” she smiled, murmuring the name of her child like a praise. Like all he had to do was exist and she would be forever proud of him.

The snip of scissors on the umbilical cord, and Albus could feel the presence of a man, burning hot with his affection and newfound meaning, and he knew it was the father. A father who had found his reason for living.

It was such a strong, emotional scene, and Albus felt jarred with the overwhelming senses he was brought to. He could feel their contentment even as he was sinking away from the fulfilled parents and the crying baby, their pride and joy, and he was brought to a new scene.

“Both of you are my treasures,” he heard the voice of a man, feeling the happiness and genuinity from him. 

He saw the man and his family in a garden of purple flowers on a windy day. He was holding the hands of his wife, looking frail but ever so graceful, and his son, old enough to know how to walk, young enough to be unsteady when running. The woman laughed joyously as the little boy let go of his father’s hand to give his mother one of the many flowers blooming on the field. She praised him and wrapped him up in her coat, sheltering him from the wind as she kissed his brow, his cheek, his forehead, her son laughing so purely in his mother’s embrace. The father looked on, hands in his coat pockets, his heart swelling so much, he thought it may burst from the love he felt for the two, precious individuals before him. He wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve them, but he knew he would protect them with his entire being. 

_They were his treasures._

As Albus was whipped away from the scene, he found himself shifting to a darker setting, they were no longer outside.

The father had his arm around his wife, who was coddling their son. The boy was much older now, but still young enough to be pampered. The father was reading to him, as his mother was soothingly combing through his blond hair, her thin arms wrapped around him as he leaned into her. 

“Dad,” the boy asked, eyes droopy and tone slurring with tiredness, “why was that man so rude to you when we went to that broom shop?”

The father had stopped reading almost immediately, anguish crossing his sharp features as he looked to his wife for support. She smiled reassuringly, but nodded, this was the time to tell him. So she gently shook her son out of his sleepy stupor, and prompted him to sit up as his dad addressed him, shifting awkwardly to anxiously scratch his forearm where the tattoo of a skull and snake was burned eternally into his skin.

“Scorpius,” he said, looking at his son, at his world, who may never look at him with the same trust, respect, and love again, “I have something to tell you.”

Before Albus could find out what happened, he was whirled away again and brought to an even darker shifting scene. A grand bedroom. Medicinal potions and herbs were placed throughout, and the woman in bed was frail and bony, and so sunken into the pillows and the mattress, it looked like the bed might swallow her up at a moment’s notice. She looked like she had been in bed for a long time. The man stood by watching the scene unfold before him stiffly, with a guarded expression, yet Albus could tell that he was hurting. The son, older again, in his young teens, let his mother caress his face as she stared up at him with eyes filled of unshed tears. He didn’t want to believe what she was saying. He knew she got bad at times, but she always recovered. 

“I’m so sorry, darling,” his mother whispered, her voice weak yet affectionate. “I’m so sorry to put you through this, but I’ll try my best to get better, okay?”

The son nodded, mutely. For once he didn’t have anything to say. Something about her voice had shaken him a bit. He couldn’t find an ounce of strength left in it. She just seemed very, very tired, and the boy wondered if it was really kind to her to force her to stay here, and maybe him and his dad should just let her go. 

Albus felt so much despair from the family, that if he could, he would cry with them, but then the feelings were disappearing as he was thrown to the next memory.

A funeral.

Not many people were present, but Albus could feel the misery emanating from all of them. The woman may have not known many people, but those she did know, she had made an impression. He briefly recognised the grandmother of the boy, her hair tied into a tight bun, her lipstick as red as ever, her fur coat wrapped around her in the cold day, and her gaze bore into her son, who wouldn’t come to meet it. Albus shifted his focus on the son and the father. There stood a distance between them, as the boy, not that much older from when he last saw him, just stared blankly at the stonehead. His eyes were red and puffy, like he had cried all his tears and he had nothing left to spare. The father had shifted his eyes from the grave stone, to his son, and every time they landed on his child, the man clenched his fists. He wanted to comfort him and hold him close and promise him that nothing would ever come to hurt him so again, and that he would put his grief aside to nurture him if he had to, but the words wouldn’t come. 

They were left unsaid, and Albus shifted to another scene.

In the next memory, the son was sitting atop on the staircase, listening to his grandmother and father argue. He had never heard his dad voice his grief before, but alas, here he was, months later after the death of his wife, and the son realised with a sinking heart that he was still in pain as if she had died yesterday, because he had yet to mourn. He had put his son’s emotions above his own, not letting himself take a breath to grieve properly, not letting himself heal. And now, he was finally hearing what his dad had to say about it all.

“I couldn’t save her!” He yelled, his voice high with a tinge of hysteria. And it was true, he had failed her. He promised her that he would die before harm would come to his family, he had promised her that he would be there to protect his wife and son, and yet death had stolen her away, leaving him helpless and doubtful and his precious son in insufferable pain. And he could do nothing to help both of them.

“Get a hold of yourself,” his mother seethed. “You have a son now, Draco. Focus on him.”

But how could he when he was gone to that Wizarding campus for most of the day, and the man was stuck in this lonely, dark mansion? He needed something else to distract him. He needed something else to keep him busy. Something to keep him focused when his son wasn’t around.

And he needed someone to look after his child when he came up short.

Albus zipped to the next scene, where the son was looking up at his grandmother then, her eyes kind but fierce, and the protectiveness in her demeanour reminded the boy of his father a bit.

“Now Scorpius,” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, “from now on, I’m going to be living with you and your father.”

The boy wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t complain. He did miss the presence of an older woman to guide him.

Albus floated above the Manor, the black cord attached to his wrist shifting and tangling to where the son was at all times. They were connected, even as Albus flew away and away to another memory in his partner’s life.

He was older now, just how Albus remembered him. He was in a classroom, staring at his parchment where Albus’s messy handwriting was.

_Who are you?_

Albus remembered writing it, feeling so displaced and discombobulated, and quite afraid, for that matter. The boy's brows furrowed, and a small frown appeared on his face as he concentrated on the message.

“What the…?” He said softly, yet Albus could hear it as clear as day from where he was. The boy thought of all the people he knew, and tried to compare their handwriting to what was on the page, but Albus knew he would come up empty.

He was so close. So close.

He was whirled away again.

And this time, he didn’t stop. He rushed past all the memories, all the thoughts the boy had ever thought of when it came down to Albus, every feeling he felt. Happiness. Affection. Longing. Confusion. Annoyance. Albus reached out for him, but he was so far.

Until he slowed down and found himself peering into his bedroom. The boy was dressing up so nicely that it made Albus’s very existence throb, yet the emotions of confusion and grief rolling off of the boy settled him down a bit. He was feeling grief over Albus. His eyes were red and puffy, and his thoughts were no better.

_Why would he act like that?_

_Was he acting?_

_Why didn’t he know?_

_Albus Potter has shattered me._

And then it clicked for Albus. He remembered. He had not known. And he hadn’t been acting. The train station. The cord around his wrist. The crowd pushing them away.

As if on cue, one of the boy’s memories surfaced, of him slinging a bag over his shoulder in the mansion. 

“I’m going to London,” he told his frantic House Elf. “For a school project, I’ll be back by tonight though, so don’t let my dad worry.”

“Yes, Master Scorpius,” the House Elf bowed, and the boy beamed gratefully at her.

He had remembered, two years ago.

In his desperation he tried calling out to the boy. He reached out, desperately trying to make him feel like he wasn’t alone, that Albus depended on him as much he did, that he wasn’t wrong. He wanted to explain. But most importantly, he wanted the boy to stay put in the Manor. He wanted to scream at him to not leave his room and to tell his friends and family to return back to their homes. 

The boy was thinking of the comet, the festival in WSG, his father’s upcoming election, his worried friends waiting for him there.

_No,_ Albus wanted to cry out in distress. _Don’t go there. Don’t be there when the comet strikes!_

It was hard enough thinking any coherent thoughts in this out-of-body, out-of-mind state, so Albus knew that his feelings alone wouldn’t protect the boy. The bedroom was getting farther and farther, and behind him opened up the scene of WSG, the night sky being tarnished with the bright, sparkling ball of doom spiralling towards the very person he wanted to protect so badly.

_Scorpius, run!_ He thought, watching helplessly as the debris from the meteor crashed all around him, destroying houses, trees, stalls. His partner looked up at the sky, mouth agape in fear, eyes wide, body shaking but unable to move.

_Scorpius!_ He yelled at him, willing him to move. _Scorpius, please! Hear me!_

The scene shifted upwards and Albus shut down. The meteor was right there. Right above the boy, burning with an infinite palate of blue and green fire, it’s mass so impossibly big, him so impossibly small. The blackness of the sky was no longer visible in the light of the meteor, shining like a beacon. It was unlike anything anyone living would ever experience. Albus shouldn’t know what a meteor up close and falling like that should look like. Neither should the boy.

But he watched powerlessly as the meteor came closer and closer to his soulmate, and the boy deaf to his screams and pleads for him to get away.

Scorpius witnessed it come closer and closer, until all that ever existed was the comet.

Albus could hear the bells.

~~~

He gasped, eyes flying awake, and the first thing he felt was he had a body. What he had just experienced, Scorpius’s life throughout, was over. 

The next thing he adjusted to was his sight. He was in bed, staring up at the dark, oak ceiling. He sat up and he knew the bedroom. He looked down at his hands, pale and angular and delicate. His pyjamas that weren’t his. The bed that wasn’t his. He laughed in a voice that wasn’t his.

And then he was crying, tears sliding down his cheeks, his voice raggard with sobs. He hugged himself. Well, hugging the body of the person he was. He was still here, he was still alive.

Scorpius was okay.

Albus could still save him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope I did this chapter some justice to the movie scene, because it’s literally my favourite scene in the movie and so I dreaded writing this for so long. I wanted to explore Draco as much as I could in this chapter, because you don’t actually get much depth on Mitsuha’s father in the movie, and I love Draco and his connection to Scorpius, Astoria and Narcissa, so I tried my best to squash it in without it seeming squashed. Tell me how I did lol (but try not to be too mean because I’m sensitive ahaha)
> 
> Also, I’m thinking of changing the name of the fic, but idk what to call it. So any suggestions? Should I just leave it as is or nah?
> 
> Anyways, I’m aiming for this fic to be around twenty chapters long, so I don’t think I have too much to go from here. I can’t believe I’ve been writing it for so long, I’m literally so slow. Thanks for sticking around (if you’ve made it this far).
> 
> Next chapter, Albus comes up with a plan.


	14. The Perfect Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus has been given one last chance to save everyone in the Society. For that, he obtains the help of Scorpius’s two loyal best friends to help him suss out a plan of evacuation. However, when all is said and done, the bulk of everything working out successfully tends to rely on one person. And Albus can’t help but think Scorpius would be more suitable in these circumstances.

When Ginger walked into Scorpius’s room, going to remind him to go down for breakfast and then get ready for the astronomical festival, she expected him to be tapping at his mirror. What she did not expect to find was him curled in a ball at his bed, hugging himself very tightly, and crying his eyes out. 

She recoiled as her master looked at her.

At first she had thought he was having a breakdown, and was nervous or anguished about something, but the gaze in his eyes, the disbelieving expression on his face, it was almost like he was crying in relief. And the shocked affection that flashed across his face as he saw Ginger’s nervous figure made her even more confused.

“His elf!” He cried, gasping through his tears and sniffling heavily. “Ginger!”

And to her horror, she watched as her Master tumbled out of bed, and rushed at her, arms spread out as if he was going to pull her into an embrace. 

_Master never hugs so impulsively,_ Ginger thought, and in her panic, she shut the door to Scorpius’s room before he could reach out to her. 

She wondered briefly if she should open the door and apologise to him, but she felt that her Master wasn’t himself today, and something about him seemed so wrong that the thought of facing him again put her off. 

Scorpius was forgiving. It’s what she told herself as she went downstairs to serve Draco and Narcissa.

“Where’s my son?” Draco asked, because in normal circumstances, Scorpius would be trailing behind Ginger.

“Lost it, Master Scorpius has lost it,” Ginger mumbled, her head hung as she shuffled into the kitchen. She didn’t look up to see Master Draco’s expression. She didn’t even know if Master Draco had heard her.

~~~

“To all you stargazers out there, the Tiamat comet has been visible to the naked eye for about a week now,” the Howler said in a pleasant, female voice. “Tonight it will finally reach its perigee around 7:40pm, and will achieve its maximum brightness.” 

Albus stood, eyes swollen and nose still a bit runny, but hands on his hips as he listened to the report from the Howler. He was aware of Scorpius’s grandmother and father staring at him apprehensively, and he knew Scorpius’s pale face was probably flushed and blotchy from his sobbing. But he had to pay attention on what was to come. 

Not only would he try and save Scorpius, but he wanted to save everyone: Narcissa, Cole, Lucy, Ginger, even Draco Malfoy. The whole Society, if he could.

The comet was tonight, there was still time left. He could do this. 

“I’m heading out, I have a board meeting with Maurice. We have to make sure everything’s in order for tonight,” Draco said, shrugging on his coat. 

He gave a heavy, caring glance at his son, and Albus suddenly felt very awkward. Of course he knew how much Draco cared for Scorpius, after his journey through the netherworld, so he understood the look he was giving him now. But still, Albus felt like he was intruding. This loving gaze was for Scorpius, not for him. 

He swallowed down his guilt, not quite sure why he was feeling guilty in the first place.

Draco put a hand on Albus’s shoulder, squeezed it briefly, and then used his own WSG portkey to disappear.

As soon as Draco left, Narcissa sipped from the cup of tea she was drinking, and crossed her arms.

“You’re not Scorpius, are you?” She said. 

Albus’s jaw dropped momentarily before he was able to regain himself. He remembered what she had said to him on the way back from the shrine, that he was dreaming. Narcissa had always seemed more aware than the people around him, now that he thought about it. It was what made him so apprehensive of her in the first place.

“You knew this whole time?” He said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“No, but watching the way you’ve been behaving recently stirred some memories,” she sighed and rested herself in one of the lounging chairs by the fireplace. 

Albus hadn’t explored the Manor much, due to his fear of it (and could you blame him? His aunt was literally tortured here), but he had seen lots of fireplaces, and he had wondered how big the Manor truly was. If you were to Floo here, which fireplace would you arrive in?

“Like that. You’re so unfamiliar here, it’s almost laughable,” Narcissa said, observing him and making Albus self-conscious. “When I was a young girl, I had some pretty strange dreams myself.”

Albus frowned, letting the information soak in. He went to sit beside her, and thought about it. Narcissa going through the same thing he and Scorpius went through? How could that be a coincidence?

“Although, it’s been so long that the memories of who I became in those dreams have pretty much faded at this point,” Narcissa sighed, drinking from a cup of steaming tea as she contemplated her past. 

“Faded…” Albus murmured, thinking of how he had almost forgotten everything about Scorpius and what happened with him. Scorpius had nearly faded from his mind.

As if reading his thoughts, Narcissa gave Albus a knowing smile.

“Treasure the experience,” she said. “All dreams fade away after you wake up.”

Albus swore to himself that that wasn’t going to be the case with him and Scorpius. He would always remember him, no matter what. Scorpius with his geekiness and his dimples and his freakishly tall height and his slender fingers and his love for books and charms and transfiguration and everything Albus would think boring if not for him. 

But even as he was telling himself all of this, even as he now knew everything about Scorpius, and could cherish every minor detail about his blond companion, he couldn’t help but feel the dread of it all being temporary.

“I went through similar times myself, and so did Scorpius’s mother,” Narcissa remarked. “So I’m not surprised that Scorpius is going through something the same.”

Albus thought of the two women. They were both connected together through Draco, if not Scorpius was the real tie between the Greengrass and the Malfoy bloodline. What if… the reason… 

He glanced at the place where the Howler had been earlier.

“What if,” he said, trying to connect all the dots, “all those dreams that the people before Scorpius had… it had to do with today.”

Albus put a hand on Narcissa’s thigh, and set his jaw.

“Grandma, listen to me,” he said, trying to put the importance of his words into his tone. “Tonight, the comet is going to fall on WSG. You’re all going to die! Promise me you’ll stay here, and not go to the celebration!” 

Narcissa blinked at him, affronted by his sudden outburst. She then furrowed her eyebrows, pinched the bridge of her nose, and sighed. 

~~~

Albus ran down the path, the hot sun beating off of him, and he felt his face blister in the heat. Albus has always been dark, so sunburn had never been a concern of his until now. But even though he knew he was messing up Scorpius’s face, he couldn’t shake the urgency he felt to evacuate the campus. 

Narcissa’s words from before still taunted him.

_No one’s going to believe that._

Well, he would like to say he expected more, but with Scorpius’s grandma, he really didn’t. At least she had stayed at the Manor, with Ginger and the rest of the House Elves. That was a few people to worry less about. 

School was about to start. He was aware of that. But there was no way he was going to be sitting through class with a disaster like that on its way.

He just needed to collect two people.

~~~

“Scorpius!” Lucy squeaked as Cole stared at his face in horror. “Your face is all burnt… and have you been crying?”

“Oh, yeah. I have,” Albus shrugged impatiently. “It’s that obvious, huh?”

“No, no you look fine,” Lucy said, desperate to save the conversation.

“Nevermind that! If nothing is done by tonight, everyone will die!”

The class immediately silenced, and turned their heads to stare at him. Lucy’s eyebrow was twitching and Cole’s jaw had dropped in disbelief, but looked to be ghosting into an amused grin. Yeah, they probably thought he was crazy.

“It’s up to us save everyone!” He exclaimed, not caring about the looks. 

If he had intelligent, reasonable Lucy and impulsive, rebellious Cole, he really felt they could do something to stop this. 

He wouldn’t let them die, not again.

He saw Lucy turn to Cole with a frown, and Cole looked back at her, his expression almost asking her a question of permission. 

Then she sighed, and Albus knew he had them.

~~~

“The warning system?” Albus asked, and Cole nodded seriously.

“Yeah, there are a series of spells to enable for an announcement throughout town.”

“Oh, I get it!” Albus exclaimed after a moment of contemplation. “It could work. Nice going, mate!”

He pat Cole on the back roughly, and the boy next to him bristled and grunted. Scorpius apparently had some strength. Before Cole could comment on it, Lucy opened the door, her arms full of bags filled with sugary edibles and other delights they could munch on whilst they hid in one of the school’s musty storage rooms.

“I bought all the snacks guys,” she said, a little breathlessly as she was probably rushing to get there. “Here’s your change.”

She put the bags down beside them and gave Albus the money. He grinned at her as Cole reached around to snag a pastry, and murmured “Nice, Lucy.” 

“Sorry for the trouble,” Albus said, winking as he too reached for a Peppermint Toad. 

“It’s fine! Though the lady at the counter at the shop I bought these from did wonder why I was out of school.”

“What did you say?” Cole asked.

Lucy got out a bottle filled with strawberry milk, and popped the straw in. 

“I told her the truth. That I was kind busy helping you guys save the Society, or something.”

Albus smirked in approval.

The three of them were hiding in the school’s storage room, one allocated a bit farther away from the rest of the school grounds, so no one paid them attention. The teachers were probably wondering why such a goody-two-shoes like Scorpius would be away, but Albus knew there were bigger problems than Scorpius skiving off of class for once. They had sent Lucy away to buy them snacks (with Scorpius’s pocket money, which he had _a lot_ of), whilst Cole and Albus could come up with a plan.

“So you’re paying us with food to help you fuck up the whole festival?” Cole murmured moodily, and Albus shot him a look.

“Quit complaining,” he hissed.

“So? What did you come up with? Got an evacuation plan?” Lucy asked, cutting their retorts off.

Albus and Cole simultaneously looked at her, grinning cheekily.

~~~

“A bomb?!” Lucy shrieked so loudly that Albus had to shush her urgently. She lowered her voice, but she still looked on the verge of panicking. “Scorpius, Cole, have you _lost your mind?_”

“Yeah,” Cole grinned, “we learn all sorts of explosive spells we use for construction and there’s a whole lot of them at our storage site.”

“And the warning system?” 

Cole continued to munch as he explained, mouth gradually getting fuller. 

“There should be standard instructions in one of the offices at the school here, since many teachers are also board members. They shouldn’t be too tricky to hijack either.”

“So we can broadcast a whole evacuation warning system pretty easily right from school. That way, you wouldn’t have to rush anywhere if things go south, and you’ll already be safe,” Albus chipped in, pointing to the map he and Cole shared. 

There was a large red circle over the Society schoolyard, and Albus knew the residents would be safe there if they couldn’t make it back to the Portkey system in time. He knew that he was aiming for most of the residents to go home, but he knew he couldn’t make everyone do so, like the staff members, for instance. They would just have to evacuate them to the schoolyard, the only place in the Society that didn’t suffer the devastation from the comet.

“Look, we’re right outside the disaster area here, so we’ll just make an announcement to those who have to stay to evacuate to the school,” Albus explained to Lucy, who was getting more and more pale with every word.

“Why couldn’t you just open the apparating system?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah, I’m going to try and do that,” Albus sighed, suddenly much less confident in this plan, for this one didn’t depend on him. Much like Hogwarts, the Society ensured there was a no-apparating spell on the grounds, which made things a whole lot harder for them. Scorpius would be smart enough to develop a spell (or at least, a temporary one) to have residents evacuate easier, but he wasn’t Scorpius and he would just have to make do. So maybe… if he could convince someone… 

“I-It’s totally going against every single rule we have at the Society, isn’t it?” Lucy asked rhetorically, her eyes wide.

“You’ll be in charge of the broadcasting, Lucy,” Albus said.

_“Why me?”_

“You’re the one obsessed with all those Muggle podcasts and whatnot,” Cole said, like that warranted it. “And I’ll be in charge of the explosive spells.”

“And I will go have a word with the chairman,” Albus said, a lot less gusto in his voice then earlier. His Gryffindor genes must’ve finally ran out on him, which sucked. 

“Why?” Lucy asked.

“Well, first off I want to convince him to get rid of the Apparation limitations, so people can evacuate to the school much more easily, and we can get around the town quickly if we need to. Then, there’s also the matter of the broadcasting. If the broadcasting isn’t being reported by the Society’s staff itself, then no one’s going to listen to it. But if I talk to the chairman, as his son, I can convince him.”

Cole crosses his arms and nodded gravely, pride basically radiating off his body.

“It’s the perfect plan,” he said.

Lucy sighed, the empty strawberry milk carton still shaking in her hands.

“Fine, I don’t really care one way or the other,” she said as if she was trying to convince herself. “This is just a divination interpretation theory of yours right?”

For some reason, the look Lucy gave Albus made him stop short. It was if she needed to hear reassurance that the star would not fall, that the people of the Society weren’t actually in danger, that what they were doing wasn’t going to depend on whether the people of the Society were going to get hurt, or not. That if they failed, many people weren’t going to die.

He wondered if Lucy was thinking about her family, and if they were here. Or maybe the one she loved.

Her eyes flickered briefly to Cole, and then back at him.

_Ah,_ he thought.

He gave her his best reassuring smile, though it felt like a grimace, considering how much fainter he felt.

He was about to answer when Cole did instead, flipping over his notebook to a page on divination.

“Interpretation theories can be based on reality!” He exclaimed, excited to ramble about another one of his theoretical interests. “Do you know the story of how the Society lake was formed?”

He shoved the pages in Lucy’s face, his body reaching across Albus. Albus groaned, and pushed him away so they could both look at it.

Albus’s eyes widened at the diagram Cole had drawn.

“It’s a crater!” Cole exclaimed, as if Lucy and Albus couldn’t read _‘a meteor crater lake formed 1,200 years ago!’_ right beside the diagram.

Albus remembered the Society shrine, the coloured carving of the comets on the stone ceiling. No wonder it had looked so old, it was because it _was_ that old. History was repeating itself.

“Nice one, Cole!” Albus exclaimed, lightly punching his friend in the arm.

Cole grinned, happy that he helped Albus in some way, though he looked slightly confused as to how it did.

Lucy raised an exasperated brow as Cole exclaimed, “Let’s go evacuate the Society!”

~~~

“What on earth are you talking about?”

Draco narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, and Albus felt his throat go dry, but it was too late to turn back now.

“Like I said, we have to evacuate the Society before tonight if not—”

“Enough,” Draco sighed, putting up a tired hand. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and Albus waited nervously, his hands fidgeting as Draco contemplated. “The comet is going to split in two and strike the town? Over 500 will die? How can you stand there and spout such nonsense?”

Albus’s eyes widened at Draco’s harsh words. He knew how much the man loved Scorpius. He saw it, _felt_ it. So why was he talking to him this way? Was there something Albus was doing wrong?

Draco sighed, his stern demeanour crashing, and when he looked back at Albus his gaze had softened just the slightest bit.

“If you’re serious you must be sick,” he said, and Albus had to keep from gaping. “I’ll have someone take you to the Society’s infirmary for an examination. Tell them you’re feeling delusional and reckless for no reason, could be your adrenaline.”

He got out a piece of parchment and started to jot down a series of ‘symptoms’ he was going through, whilst Albus stood there, frozen in shock.

“We can finish this conversation _after_ you see a healer,” Draco said, with a finality that made Albus’s blood level spike.

“No!” Albus exclaimed, causing Draco to look up at him in bewilderment. “There’s no time for that! You have to trust me! I _know_ the star is going to fall! If you don’t do anything about it, you’ll be endangering us all!”

“Scorpius!” The chairman bellowed, clearly affronted. “You will not argue on this. You’ve been acting strangely for the past few weeks now and I’ve turned a blind eye to it, but I _know_ when something is wrong with my son!”

“You don’t know everything about him!” Albus yelled back before he could stop himself.

Draco opened and closed his mouth, staring at Albus like he couldn’t recognise him. There was no point in pretending to be someone he wasn’t, especially in front of someone who could see right through him. Before he could respond, Albus paced up to wear he was seated in his desk, swallowed down his nervousness, and put as much meaning into his next words as possible.

“You’ll be endangering _Scorpius_.”

“I… son…” Draco said, as he observed Albus’s pinched expression and hostile form.

A heavy silence ensued, and Albus watched in horror as Draco’s expression turned from blatant shock, to his brows furrowing suspiciously, and his eyes narrowing harshly at him. When the man spoke, he spoke with absolute certainty.

“No… you’re not my son,” he said, and all rage soon left Albus, replaced with a crumbling despair.

Draco was seeing him as an imposter.

He took a few steps back, wanting to shrink under the older Malfoy’s hard glare.

“Who are you?” He spat.

~~~

Staff members and volunteers of all ages helped decorate the Society for the festival of the Tiamat comet. Lanterns of every colour floated throughout the streets, and booths selling multiple sweets, newspapers, astronomical merch and other stargazing equipment were being set up, each design more elaborate than the others. Children and teenagers buzzed in excitement for the night ahead of them, and everyone was just about glowing with anticipation. 

Everyone except Albus, who was stalking dejectedly, and trying to find out what in Merlin’s beard he was going to do now. 

“I’ll see you guys at the festival!” Said a small boy to his two friends, waving them off before heading in the opposite direction.

“We’ll meet you at the front of the Exploding Snaps booth, don’t be late!” His friend called back in a foreign accent, as the other wished her off.

Albus felt his stomach plummet as he looked at the children. They weren’t even of age to attend Hogwarts yet. They were so bloody young. And they looked tremendously excited for what was to come.

As they ran past him, Albus couldn’t help but stick out his arm and stop the little boy in his tracks.

“You shouldn’t go!” He exclaimed, his voice desperate and wavering. He grabbed the boy by the shoulders as he looked up at him, his hazel eyes wide. “You’ve got to leave town, tell all of your friends!”

“What’s wrong with ya?” The boy grunted, pushing his arms away from him. It was clear he wanted to get away from him, but the other little girl next to him seemed to recognise him.

“Scorpius, what’s wrong?” She asked, her eyebrows furrowed as her friend grabbed onto her arm and stood behind her, regarding him warily. 

“If it was Scorpius, would he have been able to convince him?” Albus asked himself, not realising the words that were leaving his mouth until after he said it, and even then, he couldn’t bring himself to care. Lucy could try to evacuate everyone using the broadcasting system, but sooner or later she’ll get caught by the staff, or the Society will override the spell. It was no use. If they didn’t have Draco on their team, they were as good as done for.

Was all of this his fault? Was the Society going to die because of him? 

_Because they needed Scorpius, and not Albus?_

“What’re you talking about?” The little dark-skinned, brunette girl said. 

It wasn’t until then that Albus realised she looked exactly like Cole. He had met Lavinia once, and he probably would’ve forgotten her name if he hadn’t seen it in the List of Victims along with the rest of the Stone family.

“Lavinia,” he said, immediately grabbing onto her hands, ignoring her flinch, “promise me you’ll leave the Society with your family before dark.”

“Huh?!”

“You’re going to _die_ if you stay here!”

“What’re you talking about?” The girl asked, her dark eyes going glassy, and Albus felt like a truly horrible person, but maybe if it was fear that kept people safe, he should work with that. It was one thing he hadn’t tried yet.

“Stop bothering us!” The boy beside her exclaimed, smacking Albus’s hands away and pulling Lavinia down the road.

Albus watched them go. 

And he felt hopeless.

~~~

“Scorp!” Lucy called, riding on the back of Cole’s red bicycle. Cole stopped riding once he was beside him.

“How did it go with your old man?” Cole asked. 

_He probably doesn’t know yet that I traumatised his little sister,_ Albus thought glumly.

Albus didn’t even bother, and he glared at the ground.

“This isn’t going to work,” he stated, as the familiar stinging feeling of rage twisted in his gut again. 

He felt _stupid_ and _powerless_ and _useless_. He had failed the Society. People were going to die because of him, and he should hate himself for it. If it was Scorpius… he could’ve done it. Scorpius was charismatic and resourceful and intelligent and had the capability to understand things that stupid, _stupid_ people like Albus just couldn’t fathom.

“What do you mean?” Cole said softly, and Albus hated that he heard pity in his voice.

“Convince as many people as you can to leave the Society before nightfall, and then we go,” Albus said, his voice bitter and spiteful. He didn’t even look at Lucy or Cole as he started walking away from him.

Then he felt a strong grip on his arm.

“Stop it!” Lucy exclaimed, and Albus was so taken aback by his quiet-spoken friend’s outburst that he had forgotten all about his negative emotions for a split second. “Why are you acting all mopey and reckless and… and negative? You’re never like that! You haven’t been the same since yesterday!”

Albus blinked.

_Yesterday?_

“You've been acting strangely ever since you went to London last night!”

Albus’s eyes widened.

_London… but that’s where he lived._

Cole was saying something else, but Albus couldn’t bring himself to pay attention to him at the moment. He thought about Scorpius, and he thought about that night of the comet. How Hogwarts discharged the students for three days due to the centaur’s insistence, of how it was important to see the comet with family. That would give the students one day before the comet, one day for it, and one day after.

Albus remembered as soon as the train stopped at Platform 9 ¾, he remembered seeing someone with a shock of blonde hair.

“Is he even listening to what I’m saying?” He heard Cole sigh in the background of his loud thoughts and recovering memories.

One sound rang the clearest, though.

A tinkling of bells.

Albus looked up the steep, green slope that would lead to the Society Shrine. 

What the Society needed now was Scorpius.

He looked at Cole and Lucy then. The two people that didn’t really know him, but Albus had grown to love and cherish them as if they were _his_ friends too. 

He knew he couldn’t say goodbye to them now, he knew they were only going to suspect him some more if he did, and he couldn’t let that happen in order for the next part of the plan to carry through. They needed to believe he was Scorpius.

So he didn’t say a word about farewells. Instead he shooed Cole and Lucy away from the bike.

“Let me use your bike for a second, Cole!” He said, mounting it before Cole could get a word in. 

He glanced at the road leading up towards the forest, which led to the summit of the crater, and beyond was the shrine.

He took off towards it.

“What do we do then?!” Cole exclaimed behind him.

“Get everything ready, exactly as we planned!” He yelled, glancing back at them. “I’m counting on you!”

But really, he wanted to say goodbye.

He stared back at the path ahead of him.

If he was Scorpius right now, then Scorpius had to be somewhere. Scorpius had to be him. And so he had to go to the place he was last before he left his body actively.

As he started pedalling at a harder pace, he heard the bells again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don’t know what to name this fic and I’m nearly finished writing it (as you can see, I’m aiming this to be finished in 20 chapters) If you have any titles, let me know!
> 
> Also, as I’ve rewatched the movie for this fic, I didn’t realise how many bells there were distantly ringing in moments. I still don’t really know what they represent (definitely something to do with Mitsuha’s presence though, so Scorpius in this case), but I love it lmao
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously if you've read or seen ‘Your Name’, you know the gist of the story. Scorpius will be Mitsuha, and Albus is Taki, but I’ve put my own touches to the story to make the characters more like themselves, and also to suit the actual wizarding world of everything. More will be explained in detail in the next chapter. Thanks for Reading!


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